Fairchild Semiconductor's quarterly revenues drop by 25%

Fairchild Semiconductor reported fourth quarter sales of $320.9 million, down 25.1 percent from the prior quarter and 25.7 percent lower than the fourth quarter of 2007. Gross margin was 26.5 percent, 340 basis points lower sequentially and 480 basis points less than in the fourth quarter of 2007.

Fourth quarter net loss was $218.1 million or $1.76 per share, compared to net income of $26.7 million or $0.21 per diluted share in the prior quarter and net income of $34.0 million or $0.27 per diluted share in the fourth quarter of 2007.

Revenues for full year 2008 were $1.574 billion, a decrease of 5.7% compared to $1.670 billion in 2007. Net loss for the year was $167.4 million or $1.35 per share, compared to net income of $64.0 million or $0.51 per diluted share in 2007.

"We responded quickly to the broad-based reduction in orders during the fourth quarter to effectively manage our supply chain and to reduce costs," said Mark Thompson, president and CEO. "Total supply chain inventories were roughly flat in dollars to the prior quarter. We reduced internal inventory by about $2 million by lowering factory loadings through shutdowns of as much as two weeks during the quarter. Inventory of our products in the distribution channel increased less than $2 million from the prior quarter.

The MOSFET and such discrete semiconductor devices getting into consumer, media, notebooks were the major revenue earning products for Fairchild. The consumer market burst might have brought down the demand for these semiconductor devices.