MICROELECTRONICS NEWSLETTER
June 19, 1976

ELECTRONIC WATCH COMPONENTS
There is no shortage in CMOS chips for watches, except possibly for those with an unusual number of functions or features. There still seems to be some difficulty getting an adequate number of cases of the right type and style for market needs.

LSI SYSTEMS
Commodore's purchase of LSI Systems makes vertical integration complete for the major U.S. calculator manufacturers. Commodore makes about one million calculators a year.

INTEL 8080
The Intel 8080 is the standard of the microprocessor industry. Although the device isn't perfect, it looks like a repeat of the Intel type 1103 1024-bit RAM. Intel made a lot of money on the "1103" with a less than perfect product.

PERSONNEL CHANGES - MOTOROLA
Bob Jones was convinced to move to the Motorola Austin facility, apparently at a considerable boost in salary. There appears to be a growing shortage of Motorola personnel who want to work at Austin. Al Stein, new Motorola IC head, has a yield/process background -- good technically, ? manager [sic].

RAYTHEON - Gene Selven
In addition to Hoefler's comments, ICE has heard that Raytheon plans to acquire a MOS company.

ITT- Norm Miller
Norm Miller, ex-Motorola, Fairchild, Signetics (worked for ICE at one point). Miller is probably one of the better international managers in the business. This should be a real boost for ITT Semiconductors.

AMS MERGER WITH INTERSIL
ICE views the merger between AMS and Intersil as having good potential. The chief gain for Intersil is the acquiring of Ori Hoch as president. The two product lines are complementary. The combined organization would have semiconductor sales in the $60 million-$70 million range.

CONSUMER ELECTRONICS SHOW
Glen Madland and Gordon Ness both dropped in on the Consumer Electronic show in Chicago. The electronic watch market penetration was apparent. ICE is completing a major study in the electronic watch business and will publish this soon as a special report.

RAYTHEON AND EXAR
Because of Exar's lack of production capacity, and (with their good design and product definition skills), the agreement is a good move for both--Raytheon gaining technology and Exar gaining in secon-sourcing [sic].