Texas Instruments Inc, in the doldrums for so long, at least seems to be on its way again, with profits soaring 65% despite heavy charges for reorganisation and for divestiture of non-strategic computer assets – it is not clear whether this is what is left of the printer business, or is the portable computer business, but it appears to be both – it says the move will enable it to focus on primary software development tools, mainly the Information Engineering Facility, and some applications; it will cost the company $49m pre-tax to get shot of the hardware business. More importantly, it is making a major restructuring in Europe that will cost 1,064 jobs, and that has cost $83m pre-tax. The European operations will be restructured so that in place of the traditional country-by-country approach it will set up business centres that will have pan-European responsibilities. The action primarily affects semiconductor activities, and is expected to result in annual savings of about $54m when fully implemented. Texas says profit from operations for the quarter was $209m compared with $140m in the first quarter of 1993, with essentially all the increase coming from higher royalties and improved semiconductor operations. The company said continuing improvement in its semiconductor operations led to its best first quarter ever with orders reaching an all-time high in the quarter, setting records in every major geographic region with strength across all major product lines, with signal processor chips growing significantly faster than overall semiconductor orders. Texas says it sees a more stable semiconductor market in the future, while still growing at double digit rates.
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