Cirrus Logic Inc is ready to scrap its work on standalone graphics chips in favor of integrated multimedia chips, the company told the Dow Jones newswire this week. Cirrus, which only two years ago was making most of its money from graphics hardware, says it wants to capitalize on what it sees as a new demand for personal computers costing less than $1,000. At Comdex last week the company introduced a subsystem chipset architecture aimed at low-cost PCs (CI No 3,294). Chief executive officer Michael Hackworth said engineers were being re-assigned from graphics chips, and hinted that some might be laid off in the future. Last April, after reporting a loss of $46.2m for fiscal 1997, Cirrus announced staff cuts of some 15%. Its name has been linked with Texas Instruments Inc as a potential takeover target Competition has been tough in the graphics market, and Intel Corp’s recent acquisition of Chips & Technologies Inc has renewed industry fears that the chip giant was aiming to squeeze out competition in the graphics field from the current large numbers of small players currently in the market. Graphics-related business for personal computers currently accounts for around 30% of the company’s current revenues, and Cirrus says it will continue to sell its current line of graphics chips, and will integrate graphics technology into future multimedia chips.
