Pakistanis angry over detentions in Times Sq. case Monday, May 24, 2010
ISLAMABAD – Relatives of three men detained by Pakistan for alleged links to the suspect in the attempted Times Square bombing say the men are innocent.
They
AFP - Thursday, August 6TAIPEI (AFP) - - Taiwan's Beijing-friendly government on Wednesday denied boycotting an Australian film festival amid a row over the e
BERLIN (Reuters) - Chancellor Angela Merkel suffered a double blow on Thursday as a senior party ally in east German
Minister seeks closure of anti-Berlusconi websites Wednesday, December 16, 2009
ROME (AFP) - – The Italian government moved Tuesday to close down Internet sites encouraging further violence against Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, who
By ELAINE KURTENBACH,AP Business Writer AP - Wednesday, March 18SHANGHAI - Asia's stock market rally seemed to be running out of steam Wednesday, despite an
My Profile
Top News
Reuters top ten news stories delivered to your inbox each day.
Subscribe
You are here:
Home
>
News
>
Technology
>
Article
Home
Business & Finance
News
U.S.
Politics
International
Technology
Internet
Entertainment
Sports
Lifestyle
Oddly Enough
Health
Science
Special Coverage
Video
Pictures
Your View
The Great Debate
Blogs
Weather
Reader Feedback
Do More With Reuters
RSS
Widgets
Mobile
Podcasts
Newsletters
Your View
Make Reuters My Homepage
Partner Services
CareerBuilder
Affiliate Network
Professional Products
Support (Customer Zone)
Reuters Media
Financial Products
About Thomson Reuters
Tech firms balance cost cuts and innovation
Fri May 22, 2009 9:53am EDT
Email | Print |
Share
| Reprints | Single Page
[-]
Text
[+]
By Dominique Vidalon and Alexei Oreskovic
PARIS/NEW YORK (Reuters) - Technology executives say they are prepared to cut more costs if the downturn proves more prolonged than expected, but finding places to get further savings won't be easy.
The obvious place to look is research and development budgets, which are typically the last things to get cut at tech companies that thrive on innovation.
But with no guarantees that an economic revival is on the horizon, there are signs that thinking could change.
Alain Dutheil, chief executive of wireless chip maker ST-Ericsson, said it is difficult for the company to justify its "huge" R&D spending with revenue under so much pressure.
"If this economic situation does not improve, we will take further measures. If we cut, it's going to be on R&D," he told the Reuters Global Technology Summit.
Many companies that participated in the summit, which took place in New York, Paris and Tokyo this week, have laid off workers as they weathered the worst economic slowdown in decades. German software maker SAP's cuts were the first in its 37-year history.
To what extent the recent spending cuts will set innovation back remains unclear. Executives said tech firms can help lift the economy out of recession by creating new products that give consumers and businesses a reason to buy again.
Corning Inc CFO Jim Flaws pointed to new technology like flat panel TVs that are lit by LEDs instead of fluorescent tubes as one of the new innovations that will drive demand for TVs. And he pointed to a new type of glass that Corning developed for touchscreen electronic devices as evidence of the company's commitment to innovation throughout the downturn.
Corning, the world's largest maker of glass for LCD panels, has cut costs in its manufacturing operations, mothballing half of its production capacity in December.
Since then, however, Flaws said Corning has begun to bring some of its production lines back on-line and rehire laid off workers to meet demand for flat panels and fiber optic cables.
PAY FREEZES, PARTNERSHIPS
Chip firms SanDisk Corp and ARM Holdings have continued to invest in next-generation products and technology even as they cut costs in other parts of the company, executives said at the summit.
ARM reduced headcount by 3 percent at the start of the year and does not anticipate any more job cuts. CEO Warren East said any further savings will come from "tight financial discipline, pay freezes, restricting all sorts of discretionary expenditures."
SanDisk has also made multiple rounds of job cuts as it suffers through a severe downturn in the flash memory industry, which has contributed to billions of dollars in losses.
CEO Eli Harari said SanDisk has not scaled back its efforts to develop a new form of flash memory, known as 3D rewriteable flash, which he said will be key to improving products like solid state hard drives. Continued...
View article on single page
Share:
Del.icio.us
Digg
Mixx
Yahoo!
Facebook
LinkedIn
Next Article:
Dell seeks market share amid uncertainty
Reuters Global Technology Summit
Who will come out on top?
Technology companies are drawing attention from investors and consumers alike as everyone tries to predict the market bottom and what new inventions might drive a recovery. Full Coverage
More Technology News
U.S. federal judge weighs DVD copying case
Gates sees tech helping U.S. out of recession
Tokyo park plays high-pitch tone to teen vandals
Pope on Facebook in attempt to woo young believers
Dell seeks market share amid uncertainty
More Technology News...
Editor's Choice
Slideshow
A selection of our best photos from the past 24 hours. Slideshow
Most Popular on Reuters
Articles
Video
UPDATE 2-"American Idol" ends on low, questions over future
Filmmaker Michael Moore targeting economic crisis
UPDATE 3-Dark horse Kris Allen wins "American Idol"
Google Almost Bought a Paper
Bankruptcy surgery revives Chrysler after all
Egyptian billionaire sentenced to death for murder | Video
GM talks likely to June 1, not past: Obama adviser
"Terminator Salvation" opens strong
U.S. Treasury plans no GM bankruptcy next week: source
Tarantino and Pitt in Cannes for Nazi-slaying caper | Video
Most Popular Articles RSS Feed
Video
Biden hailed in Kosovo; Serbs wary
New York bomb plot foiled
Japan sees spike in swine flu cases
Death for killers of pop star
Multiple bombs in Baghdad
China's police tech kit
Storm batters Gold Coast
Armed man in Serb president's office
U.S. bomb plot arrests
Security tight at Suu Kyi trial
Most Popular Videos RSS Feed
the great debate
Facebook, shmacebook: What’s the next great thing?
Facebook is the 800-pound gorilla in the social media space, with some 200 million members, a valuation of perhaps $5 billion and a base that has expanded well beyond its early roots as a private hangout for bored Ivy League students. Commentary
We want to hear from you
Join the Reuters Consumer Insight Panel and help us get to know you better
Please take a moment to complete our survey
Reuters.com:
Help and Contact Us |
Advertise With Us |
Mobile |
Newsletters |
RSS |
Labs |
Archive |
Site Index |
Video Index
Thomson Reuters Corporate:
Copyright |
Disclaimer |
Privacy |
Professional Products |
Professional Products Support |
About Thomson Reuters |
Careers
International Editions:
Africa |
Arabic |
Argentina |
Brazil |
Canada |
China |
France |
Germany |
India |
Italy |
Japan |
Latin America |
Mexico |
Russia |
Spain |
United Kingdom |
United States
Thomson Reuters is the world's largest international multimedia news agency, providing investing news, world news, business news, technology news, headline news, small business news, news alerts, personal finance, stock market, and mutual funds information available on Reuters.com, video, mobile, and interactive television platforms. Thomson Reuters journalists are subject to an Editorial Handbook which requires fair presentation and disclosure of relevant interests.
NYSE and AMEX quotes delayed by at least 20 minutes. Nasdaq delayed by at least 15 minutes. For a complete list of exchanges and delays, please click here.