Irvine’s Broadcom Corp. landed a deal to get its chips into PCs made by Japan’s Toshiba Corp., which has its U.S. headquarters here.
Irvine-based Toshiba America Information Systems Inc. is marketing a handful of laptops to consumers who are movie, gaming and music buffs. They feature bigger screens and more advanced graphics, among other features.
Broadcom is providing a chip that boosts the quality of high definition video when viewed on the PCs.
The chip makes sure the movie playing uses less power, memory and works with Microsoft Corp.’s operating systems.
Broadcom said the chip will make the price of laptops that are capable of playing high definition video a bit cheaper.
The chips can be found in two of Toshiba’s newest laptops, Satellite P205, which has a 17-inch screen, and Qosmio F45, which has a 15.4-inch screen.
Mindspeed Narrows
Newport Beach chipmaker Mindspeed Technologies Inc. narrowed its losses and is seeing growth in its business making chips for devices that allow for phone calls over the Internet.
The company posted $35 million in revenue for the three months ended Dec. 31, up 17% from a year earlier.
Excluding charges for stock compensation, taxes and writedowns on some assets, Mindspeed reported profits of $1.5 million versus a loss of $6 million a year earlier.
Including charges, Mindspeed narrowed its loss to $800,000, less than the $11 million it lost a year earlier.
Voice over Internet protocol chips made up nearly 30% of Mindspeed’s sales in the December quarter, the company said.
Mindspeed expects March quarter revenue to be $34.2 million to $36.4 million. The company didn’t give a profit outlook.
Conexant Results
Newport Beach’s Conexant Systems Inc., which spun off Mindspeed in 2003, posted a small profit before charges for the December quarter.
Excluding stock compensation, severance and writedowns on some assets, Conexant reported a profit of $9 million, up 22% from a year earlier.
Including charges, the company posted a loss of $9 million.
Revenue for the quarter ended Dec. 28 was $197 million, down 20% from a year earlier.
The company said it saw a boost of nearly $15 million in one-time revenue from the selling of royalties.
“Even without the impact of the one-time royalty payment, we delivered breakeven financial performance on a core operating basis, which had been our highest company priority,” Chief Executive Dan Artusi said. “For the past six months, we have been concentrating on reducing expenses, narrowing our product-development focus and improving our financial performance.”
Conexant paid roughly $7 million in restructuring charges during the December quarter.
The company ended the quarter with $232 million in cash.
The outlook for the March quarter, typically a slower one than the December quarter for chipmakers, is for revenue of $165 million to $170 million. It didn’t give a profit outlook.
The company, which had a recent market value of about $325 million, has seen its stock fall by more than 50% in the past six months.
Picture Deal
Mitsubishi Digital Electronics America Inc., an Irvine-based unit of Japan’s Mitsubishi Electric Corp., is set to team up with Irvine’s DigitalPost Interactive Inc., a startup that hosts subscription social networking and picture-sharing Web sites.
Mitsubishi makes portable photo kiosks found in stores that lets consumers crop, resize and print digital photos.
The company is set to incorporate DigitalPost’s media sharing technology into the kiosks.
The deal allows consumers to upload their photos directly to their own DigitalPost Web site while waiting for their prints,no PC required.
They also can download photos already on the site and get them printed and then later pick them up at the store.
Unlike other social networking and picture-sharing sites, they are free of advertising.
DigitalPost hosts two sites, TheFamilyPost.com and Websites ForHeroes.com.
Acer Cuts at Gateway
Acer Inc., the Taiwanese computer maker that bought Irvine-based Gateway Inc. for $710 million last year, is cutting jobs from the city where Gateway has its roots.
Acer said it’s set to cut 130 jobs at Gateway’s North Sioux City, S.D., facility.
It’s still unclear how the Acer acquisition will play out among the some 500 local Gateway workers.
