Nat Semi CEO sees analog market consolidation

NEW YORK (Reuters) - National Semiconductor Corp (NSM.N) Chief Executive Brian Halla said on Monday he expects consolidation in the analog chip industry, particularly among second-tier players.

Halla told the Reuters Global Technology, Media and Telecoms Summit that his company has always had an appetite for smaller analog companies and "you'll continue to see a lot of that." He did not name any specific acquisition targets.

"I think there will be consolidation, primarily of some of the smaller, second-tier companies," the CEO told the Reuters summit in New York.

"I think that as there becomes more and more interest in the analog sector, and as there are more and more touchdowns being scored in value-added analog circuits, it will increase this kind of activity."

Analog chips are critical in translating sound, temperature, light and other real-world phenomena into the ones and zeros that comprise digital computer language. The need for analog chips has grown alongside demand for multimedia consumer gadgets, like digital music players and advanced cell phones.

Halla differentiated second-tier players from the top five: Texas Instruments Inc (TXN.N), National Semiconductor, Maxim Integrated Products Inc MXIM.PK, Linear Technology Corp (LLTC.O) and Analog Devices Inc (ADI.N).

"There are basically five of us that have been around forever and will be around forever," he said, saying they shared the top four or five positions in virtually every standard linear analog category.

(For summit blog: summitnotebook.reuters.com/)

(Reporting by Ritsuko Ando and Sinead Carew, editing by Phil Berlowitz)