Analog Strikes Deal With Siemens

Monday, November 13th 2000, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

NORWOOD, Mass. (AP) â€” Analog Devices Inc. announced a deal Monday to supply German industrial giant Siemens AG with microprocessors for its top-selling line of wireless phones.

``What we're announcing right now is a new relationship with Siemens that will end up having Analog Devices taking over a very major percentage of the semiconductor products that will go into Siemens' digital cell phones next year,'' said Russ Johnsen, Analog Device's vice president and general manager for communications products. ``This is going to be big business for Analog Devices.''

Terms were not disclosed.

Shares of Analog were up $5.56, or 12 percent, to $50.06 in afternoon trading on the New York Stock Exchange.

While Analog expects to report more than $2 billion in sales this year, company president Jerald G. Fishman said, ``Even at our size, this is a tremendous revenue source for ADI.''

Peter Zapf, president of Siemens Mobile Devices, said the company plans to at least double its mobile phone production each year.

Siemens, which has operations in telecommunications, industrial and medical devices, has agreed to use an Analog package of chips, about half the size of a business card, in its new phones using GSM technology, the standard technology in Europe. Siemens ranks third behind Nokia and Motorola in the fast-growing European cell phone market.

Analog was to announce fourth-quarter earnings this week. Analysts have forecast the company will post profits of 50 cents per share, according to a survey by First Call/Thomson Financial. In the fourth quarter of 1999, Analog earned $73.2 million, or 20 cents per share.