It's not exactly the breakup of The Beatles, but ever since the dot-com deflation began, the telecom chipmaker triad of PMC-Sierra Inc. (Nasdaq: PMCS), Vitesse Semiconductor Corp. (Nasdaq: VTSS), and Applied Micro Circuits Corp. (AMCC) (Nasdaq: AMCC) have begun going their separate ways.
A few years ago, all three were jewels of the semiconductor industry: telecom boutiques enjoying the high margins associated with long-haul networks. But each had to spend 2002, and much of 2001, coming up with a new game plan.
Now, a new area of growth for two of these players Vitesse and PMC is the Fibre Channel market. The results are taking shape, as reflected in the companies' earnings reports during the past week. Vitesse's escape from long-haul is almost complete, although it's still got high hopes for Sonet chips. PMC hasn't fled the service-provider scene yet, but executives are shoring up other businesses as contingency plans. But AMCC has stood pat for now, although the company's got the cash to find a new direction if it has to.
Vitesse Stores up for Winter
In Vitesse's case, the changes made for a surprisingly upbeat call with analysts on Monday. The firm isn't quite storming back, but CEO Lou Tomasetta said Vitesse's makeover is starting to yield results (see Vitesse Reports Flat Q1).