COMPANY OVERVIEW Spansion Inc. is a semiconductor manufacturer headquartered in Sunnyvale, California, with research and development, manufacturing and assembly operations in the United States, Middle East, Europe and Asia. The Company designs, develops, manufactures, markets, licenses and sells Flash memory technology and solutions. The Company’s Flash memory devices primarily address the integrated category of the Flash memory market and are incorporated into a broad range of electronic products, including mobile phones, consumer electronics, automotive electronics, networking and telecommunications equipment, data center servers, personal computers and PC peripheral applications. The Company licenses its Flash memory technology to semiconductor manufacturers who use this technology to develop and manufacture a variety of semiconductor solutions.
HEADQUARTERS Spansion Inc. 915 DeGuigne Drive Sunnyvale, CA 94085 United States - Map Phone: 408-962-2500 Web Site: http://www.spansion.com
Spansion files patent infringement suit against Samsung
Nov 18, 2008 (San Jose Mercury News - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) -- Sunnyvale-based Spansion, which makes computer chips for flash-memory devices, filed a federal suit Monday accusing South Korean electronics giant Samsung of infringing on Spansion's patented technology used in hundreds of millions of cell phones, digital cameras and other consumer products. Spansion called it one of the largest patent-infringement cases ever filed because of the number of consumer devices affected. Samsung executives could not be immediately reached for comment. The suit and a related complaint Spansion lodged with the U.S. International Trade Commission seeks to bar products containing Samsung chips with the technology from entering the United States. That amounts to "well over one hundred million mp3 players, cell phones, digital cameras and other consumer electronic devices" each year, Spansion executives alleged. The suit also demands monetary damages, claiming "Samsung has built a worldwide business of approximately $7 billion annually based on the sale of infringing chips alone." Bertrand Cambou, Spansion's chief executive officer, said the precise amount of financial harm his company has suffered is still being determined. But he said Samsung's improper use of Spansion's technology over several years has cost Spansion billions of dollars. Cambou said his company has tried in the past to persuade Samsung to license Spansion's flash-memory chip technology, but those discussions went nowhere. Nonetheless, he said he would like to reach a settlement with Samsung that will resolve the legal dispute without a trial, which could take several years. "We are still hopeful for an amicable resolution," Cambou said, adding that he hopes to license future technology to Samsung and "have a friendly business relationship with them." Flash-memory devices retain information for long periods, even when their power source is off. The relatively inexpensive devices typically store information in the form of an electrical charge. Spansion's suit claims Samsung infringed on its patent for so-called floating gates, which prevent the electrical charge from escaping and the information from being lost.
Spansion Updates Fourth Quarter 2008 Outlook
SUNNYVALE, Calif., Nov 24, 2008 /PRNewswire-FirstCall via COMTEX/ -- Spansion, Inc. (Nasdaq: SPSN), the world's leading pure-play provider of Flash memory solutions, today announced an update to its outlook for its fourth quarter ending December 28, 2008. In anticipation of a weak holiday season, Spansion's customers are shutting down factories, and slowing down manufacturing run rates. As a result, Spansion anticipates that net sales for its fourth quarter of 2008 will be approximately 20% lower than its previous quarter. Spansion is taking action by cutting COGS (cost of goods sold) by approximately 15%, and further reducing operating expenses.
EDWARD STEVENSON
BooDog
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Got some today. Check the news and do your DD.
BooDog
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Check this out, you think Fitch is short in this sector? lol The little guy (that's me) can't win for losin. Short term flips against all the bs manipulation out there is the only way to play for now imo. Course, that'll prolly never change - but there i go thinkin again.
Fitch: Outlook negative for US IT sector Fitch expects global information technology spending will weaken; US outlook negative Wednesday December 3, 2008, 9:12 pm EST
NEW YORK (AP) -- The outlook for the majority of the U.S. information technology sector is negative for 2009, Fitch Ratings said Wednesday.
Worldwide IT spending will decline 2 to 3 percent in 2009, led by hardware and semiconductors, headwinds that will hurt profits and weaken credit profiles, the ratings agency said.
"Fitch believes declining macroeconomic trends could pressure companies that lack product depth and geographic revenue diversity," it said. "While the small and medium business market has been a source of growth and strong focus of the IT industry the last few years, Fitch expects this market to contract in 2009."
As a whole, the U.S. IT industry has some $250 billion in cash, of which more than $100 billion is estimated to be overseas.
While long-term concerns remain, Fitch said it did not expect a significant increase in defaults in the near term.
Most companies do not have material debt maturities until after 2011, it said, with the exception of Advanced Micro Devices Inc. and Spansion Inc.
But Fitch said about half of the technology companies it covers are on negative outlook, suggesting negative rating actions could occur throughout next year.
SEC Approves Measures to Strengthen Oversight of Credit Rating Agencies to help investors.
2008-284 Washington, D.C., Dec. 3, 2008 — The Securities and Exchange Commission today approved a series of measures to increase transparency and accountability at credit rating agencies, and ensure that firms provide more meaningful ratings and greater disclosure to investors.
The new measures impose additional requirements on credit rating agencies, whose ratings of residential mortgage-backed securities backed by subprime mortgage loans and of collateralized debt obligations linked to subprime loans contributed to the recent turmoil in the credit markets. The SEC also proposed additional measures related to transparency and competition concerning credit rating agencies. The SEC’s actions were informed by the agency’s extensive 10-month examination of three major credit rating agencies that found significant weaknesses in ratings practices.
“These comprehensive rules touch every aspect of the credit rating process – from conflicts of interest, to publication of ratings methodologies, to disclosure of ratings track records,” said SEC Chairman Christopher Cox. “The SEC’s examinations of credit rating agencies uncovered serious deficiencies that these rules will address, so that investors and markets will have better information to guide investment decisions.”
This is the second set of credit rating agency reforms since the SEC received its new regulatory authority from Congress to register and oversee credit rating agencies. The initial rules were implemented by the Commission under the Credit Rating Agency Reform Act in June 2007. The regulatory program established through the Credit Rating Agency Reform Act allows the SEC to promulgate rules regarding public disclosure, recordkeeping and financial reporting, and substantive requirements to ensure that credit rating agencies conduct their activities with integrity and impartiality.
Public comments on the new proposed amendments must be received by the Commission within 45 days after their publication in the Federal Register.
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The full text of the final rule amendments and proposed rule amendments will be posted to the SEC Web site as soon as possible.
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Fact Sheet with additional details about the SEC’s actions
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News for 'SPSN' - (Fitch Downgrades Spansion Inc.'s IDR to 'C' after Announcement of Delayed Interest Payment)
CHICAGO, Jan 15, 2009 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- Fitch Ratings has downgraded the ratings for Spansion Inc. (Spansion; Nasdaq: SPSN) following the company's announcement that, in connection wi th an ongoing exploration of its strategic alternatives, Spansion will delay the interest payment due Jan. 15, 2009 on its senior unsecured notes as it looks to restructure its balance sheet. The indenture associated with the senior unsecured notes provides for a 30-day cure period for the interest payment. Fitch has downgraded Spansion's ratings as follows:
--Issuer Default Rating (IDR) to 'C' from 'CCC';
--$175 million senior secured revolving credit facility (RCF) due 2010 to 'CC/RR3' from 'CCC+/RR3';
--$625 million senior secured floating rating notes due 2013 to 'CC/RR3' from 'CCC+/RR3';
--$225 million of 11.25% senior unsecured notes due 2016 to 'C/RR6' from 'CC/RR6';
--$207 million of 2.25% convertible senior subordinated debentures due 2016 to 'C/RR6' from 'CC/RR6'.
Approximately $1.3 billion of debt securities are affected by Fitch's actions.
The 'C' IDR reflects Fitch's belief that Spansion 's default is imminent. Fitch believes Spansion's strategic alternatives center on the consummation of a complete or partial sale of the company to another flash memory provider, which Fitch expects would be to a larger and more strongly capitalized flash memory maker. However, the existence of such a strategic buyer over the cure period remains uncertain, given current macroeconomic and credit conditions, as well as the competitive landscape of the already fairly consolidated and gradually shrinking NOR flash memory market.
Fitch believes there is value associated with the equipment the company has purchased for its 300-millimeter (mm) manufacturing facility, SP1, as well as the company's 300mm research and development (R&D) center and 200mm fab in the U.S. Nonetheless, from a recovery perspective, Fitch expects the majority if not all of this value would go to the secured lenders, leaving limited recovery prospects on hard assets for unsecured and subordinated creditors. In addition, Fitch believes there is intangible value in Spansion's industry leading technology platforms that have enabled customers' migration to higher density products, which have resulted in ongoing share gains and leading market positions in the NOR flash memory market.
The Recovery Ratings (RR) and notching reflect Fitch's continued expectation that Spansion's enterprise value, and hence recovery rates for its creditors, will be maximized as a going concern rather than as in liquidation, although the difference between the two continues to shrink as profitability has declined further. Fitch reduced the discount to operating EBITDA (in estimating distressed operating EBITDA) to 0% from 25% due to Fitch's expectations that Spansion's profitability declined meaningfully in the fourth quarter, resulting in an already distressed operating EBITDA level.
Fitch believes $670 million of ra ted senior secured debt, including $625 million of senior secured floating-rate notes and the assumption of a fully drawn $45 million U.S. revolving bank credit facility, will recover 51%-70% in a reorganization scenario, resulting in an 'RR3' recovery rating. A waterfall analysis provides 0% recovery for the approximately $225 million of rated senior unsecured debt and $207 million of senior subordinated notes, both resulting in an 'RR6' recovery rating.
Fitch's rating definitions and the terms of use of such ratings are available on the agency's public site, www.fitchratings.com. Published ratings, criteria and methodologies are available from this site, at all times. Fitch's code of conduct, confidentiality, conflicts of interest, affiliate firewall, compliance and other relevant policies and procedures are also available from the 'Code of Conduct' section of this site. The issuer did not participate in the rating process other t han through the medium of its public disclosure.
SOURCE: Fitch Ratings
CONTACT: Fitch Ratings Jason Pompeii, 312-368-3210, Chicago Nick P. Nilarp, CFA, 212-908-0649, New York or Media Relations: Cindy Stoller, 212-908-0526, New York Email: cindy.stoller*fitchratings.com
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