NEW YORK – For anyone who has known NXP Semiconductors since it was the Dutch giant Royal Philips’ subsidiary, NXP today feels much transformed. Instead of pledging changes every quarter, NXP has grown into a company with its own distinct personality and disciplines.
Under the leadership of Rick Clemmer, NXP’s CEO, the company has drastically slimmed its product portfolio. The company’s management team has cherry-picked product lines that already have either a commanding market position or clear potential – showing “a path to become a leader,” Clemmer explained. “It’s all about focus.”
Further, there is another vital sign of the company’s transformation. Clemmer said last week in an interview with
EE Times, NXP today is “practically a Chinese company.”
Say what?
NXP makes more money in China than in any other single country, said Clemmer. Moreover, the Dutch company employs 8,000 people in China, he added. “The only reason we are still a Dutch company is because we enjoy our tax breaks in the Netherlands.”
Indeed, to call NXP a European chip company is a little misleading, since NXP’s shipment-based revenue in Greater China has become twice as big as that in Europe, and one in every three employees at NXP is located in China.
Of course, nobody should be surprised. NXP has established a strong presence in China’s growing market because China is where a greater number of components are procured, designed into systems, and manufactured.
