LONDON — Dutch chip manufacturer NXP BV (Eindhoven, The Netherlands) is going to have a renewed focus on high-performance mixed-signal circuits, according to CEO Rick Clemmer.

Speaking to EE Times after posting financial results for the second quarter of 2009, Clemmer said that while the company would continue to opportunistically reschedule debt and reduce the cost of servicing its endebtedness it would also improve the fundamentals of the business.

Clemmer said he was pleased that the company had reduced its level of endebtedness from $6 billion to just over $4.8 billion in recent months. "We want to take advantage of market rates and we will continue to work that." However, Clemmer pointed out that a recent note offer from NXP had not been fully subscribed and that the ability to drive down debt also depended on banks and institutional investors' appetites. "The good news is we don't have any bonds that mature before 2013," he said.

Clemmer also wants to focus on the operational side of NXP. "A renewed focus on high-performance mixed-signal will help us get better results and better margins." Clemmer acknowledged that NXP was now a smaller company than it was one year ago but argued against the company being a shop window for other company's wishing increase size by acquisition.

"It's not about the size of the company. We're focused on winning in the market places where we want to compete," Clemmer said. He added NXP would consider acquisitions itself but added "combining businesses for economies of scale is not a big concern for us."

NXP's wafer fabs in Hamburg and Nijmegen and the SSMC joint venture fab are a part of the mixed-signal emphasis, Clemmer said.

Clemmer said that even though NXP had sold its wireless business unit in 2008 RF capability at NXP was still a great asset. The company has good sales of RF components into telecommunications basestations in China and in Europe, he added.

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