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Cherry Semiconductor Reorganizes to Better Support Demands

27 May 1999

Cherry Semiconductor Reorganizes and Retools to Better Support Customer and Market Demands in Their Automotive Business

    EAST GREENWICH, R.I.--May 26, 1999--In 1996, Cherry Semiconductor organized its business into market focused business units to better serve the needs of its customers. At that time, the company organized into three separate business units, two of which were focused on the automotive market (the American Original Equipment Manufacturing Business Unit (OEM) and the Automotive Business Unit (ABU)) and one with a non-automotive charter known as the Computer and Industrial Business Unit (CIBU). As a result of changing market forces, Cherry has reorganized the structure of its automotive business from two separate automotive business units into one, now known as the Transportation Business Unit. Cherry has named company veteran and former Director of the OEM Business Unit, John Metro, as the Director of the new Transportation Business Unit. John will report to Andy Durette, Executive Vice President for Cherry Semiconductor.
    When first structured, the OEM Business Unit was chartered to focus on General Motors, Ford and Motorola AIEG, while ABU focused on first and second tier automotive suppliers whose products supported the major OEM marketplace. There were very distinct differences in the competencies and the product needs of these customers and Cherry was organized to address these differences.
    The landscape is very different today. The OEM automotive industry has been through dramatic changes. Both Ford and General Motors have spun off large portions of their companies (Visteon and Delphi respectively). Visteon and Delphi are stand alone suppliers that must now compete against traditional first and second tier suppliers like TRW and Bosch. Top level mergers like that of Daimler Benz and Chrysler have also impacted the structure of the supply chain, resulting in intense scrutiny of existing supplier relationships.
    "We had been tracking these changes throughout the past few years, and were aware that at some point the basis for two business units with different competencies and products would no longer be valid," reported Al Budnick, President of Cherry Semiconductor. "Clearly, the changes at the majors and the first tier of suppliers required us to look at a better way to address the needs of this market. We felt that the best way to understand customer needs and wants was to bring these two business units together in order to leverage the synergies of both, to benefit from similar customer demands and ensuring trends toward standardization, and to better prioritize opportunities."
    Cherry realizes a sizable portion of its revenue from the automotive market and is recognized as a tier one supplier of semiconductor solutions. Cherry products are found in virtually every automotive electronic system, with a focus on interface, power supply and driver products.
    In addition to adjusting its business structure, Cherry recently released its POWERSENSE(TM) 3.0 production process, which is specifically targeted to support a wide range of emerging automotive applications requiring greater feature integration. This mixed signal process combines digital and analog CMOS, analog Bipolar, and high voltage power DMOS drivers on the same piece of silicon.
    "Our strides in moving new product development to our POWERSENSE process, in combination with the creation of a focused integrated automotive business unit, will insure Cherry remains a player in the automotive semiconductor market," concluded Mr. Budnick.

    Cherry Semiconductor Corporation designs and manufactures standard, semi-custom and custom integrated circuits for the automotive, communications, computer and power management markets worldwide. As both a QS9000 and ISO 9000 certified facility, Cherry Semiconductor purses a corporate quality goal of 2.0 defects per billion on all new products. Cherry Semiconductor Corporation is a wholly owned subsidiary of The Cherry Corporation, Waukegan, Illinois.

    For more information, contact Ed Gonsalves at Cherry Semiconductor Corporation, 2000 South County Trail, East Greenwich, RI 02818 (USA) Phone 1-401-886-3841 FAX: (401) 885-5786. E-Mail: info@cherry-semi.com. Internet: www.cherry-semi.com

Note: POWERSENSE is a trademark of Cherry Semiconductor Corporation.