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Texas Instruments cutting jobs as profits plunge

TI joins other chipmakers in reporting sharply lower profits and job cuts.

Brooke Crothers Former CNET contributor
Brooke Crothers writes about mobile computer systems, including laptops, tablets, smartphones: how they define the computing experience and the hardware that makes them tick. He has served as an editor at large at CNET News and a contributing reporter to The New York Times' Bits and Technology sections. His interest in things small began when living in Tokyo in a very small apartment for a very long time.
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Brooke Crothers
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Updated at 4:00 p.m. PST throughout

Texas Instruments posted a sharp drop in profit as it looks to cut 12 percent of its workforce.

TI's fourth-quarter profit fell 86 percent to $107 million, or 8 cents a share, from $756 million in the same period last year, or 54 cents a share. Excluding restructuring charges, TI had earnings of 21 cents a share, exceeding the 12 cents forecast by Wall Street analysts.

Revenue was $2.49 billion, down 30 percent, from $3.56 billion last year. The company also warned that revenue in the first quarter would drop further.

TI, which was ranked the No. 3 chipmaker worldwide in revenue by iSuppli in 2008, said it was cutting 12 percent of its workforce, which includes 1,800 layoffs and 1,600 voluntary departures.

TI's job cuts follow Intel, which said its shuttering of plants would affect more than 5,000 employees, and Advanced Micro Devices, which said it would cut 1,100 jobs.

"We are not counting on a near-term economic rebound for improvement," said Rich Templeton, TI chairman, president and chief executive officer, in a statement.

Charges for workforce reductions will be about $300 million, TI said. Annualized savings from these reductions, plus those announced in October for the restructuring of the company's Wireless business, will be about $700 million after all reductions are complete in the third quarter of 2009, the company said.

Other highlights:

  • Orders were $1.86 billion in the fourth quarter, down 47 percent from a year ago
  • Inventory was reduced by $200 million in the quarter
  • Capital expenditures were $76 million in the quarter, a decline from $181 million in 2007
  • For the first quarter of 2009 TI expects revenue of between $1.62 billion and $2.12 billion
  • For the first quarter of 2009 TI expects EPS of between $0.11 loss and $0.03 profit