4 posts and columns on Brian Halla

Voices

A Chip Veteran Passes the Baton to His Deputy

in News on October 12, 2009 at 5:00 am PT

After a 13-year run–marked by some dead ends–Brian Halla thinks he finally established a winning formula at National Semiconductor. So he’s stepping down. Halla, 63, said Friday he will give up the CEO title at the chip maker on Nov. 30 to Donald Macleod, a 61-year-old Scot who has been at National since 1978 and was serving as president and chief operating officer.

National Semi to Workforce: "What Color is Your Parachute?"

in News on March 11, 2009 at 7:53 am PT

To see just how badly the continuing erosion of consumer confidence is affecting the chip industry, one need only look at the pitiable state of National Semiconductor. After announcing third-quarter revenues that were down 31 percent from the previous quarter and 36 percent from the same period a year earlier, the company said today it would sack more than a quarter of its workforce.
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National Semi to Workforce: “What Color is Your Parachute?”

in News on March 11, 2009 at 7:53 am PT

To see just how badly the continuing erosion of consumer confidence is affecting the chip industry, one need only look at the pitiable state of National Semiconductor. After announcing third-quarter revenues that were down 31 percent from the previous quarter and 36 percent from the same period a year earlier, the company said today it would sack more than a quarter of its workforce.
largest-axe3jpg

Voices

Inspiration for a Generation of Tech Leaders

in News on August 19, 2008 at 3:47 am PT

Many inventors and leaders in technology and science have credited Sputnik, the first man-made satellite launched into space by the Soviet Union over 50 years ago, as inspiring them to become engineers or scientists during the frenzied space race that followed in the United States. The image of the beeping aluminum sphere, about the size of a beach ball, passing overhead was indelibly written in the minds of anyone who saw it in October 1957.