The belief that National Semiconductor Corp wants to get shot of its National Advanced Systems IBM-compatible mainframe business, first floated here at the beginning of last month (CI No 1,027) and later picked up by US analysts (CI No 1,036), now has widespread currency on Wall Street, where analysts at the annual meeting came away with the clear impression that the $800m-a-year business was for sale. The company has reportedly contacted a number of US manufacturers about a possible sale, but the most likely buyers are either Hitachi Ltd itself or Hitachi’s other major reseller, Comparex Computer Systeme GmbH. NatSemi is not expected to get more than $250m to $400m for the unit.
