Parthus says slowdown in PC market won't affect it

There may be a slowdown in the world market for chips, but Parthus Technologies has said things will be fine.

Brian Long, chief executive and co-founder of the Dublin-based computer chip maker, says his firm will be immune to the downturn.

He says this is thanks to a broad range of products and an emphasis on future designs, rather than existing products.

"There's clearly been a tightening in the marketplace, particularly driven by the PC downturn," he said after the company announced its full-year results.

"But it's really on current products and manufacturing... what we're doing is developing next generation products and feeding into research and development, and when there's a tightening the last thing chip-makers tighten is their research and development."

Long says the weakness in the wireless market predicted by analysts, coupled with the delays in introducing next generation mobile phones admitted by some operators is also of little concern.

"We're not just focused on phones. Our technology is deployed in PDAs, in-car navigation systems and elsewhere," he says, adding that the tightening in the market at large will not affect the company's forecasts.

The company expects to achieve profitability in mid-2002, with 60% growth in licence and overall revenue during 2001 after turning cash flow positive for 2000.

Long says the push for licensing revenue is being enhanced by portfolio licensing deals, such as the one with 3Com Corp. Parthus has 32 licensees to date.

He says new technologies are in the pipeline for 2001, and Parthus is looking to develop or, more likely, acquire expertise in PDAs and video streaming technology to complement the MediaStream audio platform it currently produces.