National Semiconductor Reorganizes

National Semiconductor Corp. announced a restructuring of its core businesses late Thursday, just a week after it reported dismal earnings for its fiscal fourth quarter.

The Santa Clara-based chip maker said it will reduce its divisions from seven to four, now including analog; logic and memory products; communications and consumer; and personal systems. It also announced executives to head the divisions.

“With this new organization in place, I believe we will be poised to start our march to the top of this industry,” Chief Executive Brian Halla said in a statement.

Last week, National Semiconductor said decreased sales and costs associated with recent layoffs drove its fiscal fourth-quarter profit down 88%.

The company earned $9.1 million, or 7 cents per share, in the quarter ended May 29. It earned $81.2 million, or 62 cents a share, during the same quarter last year. Sales were $612.4 million, down from $669.8 million a year ago.

The results included a one-time pretax charge of $19.3 million, or 10 cents a share, for severance packages on layoffs intended to cut costs in the long term.

National blamed a continuing inventory correction in the personal computer market for lower revenue. Overall orders remain approximately 40% below last year.

The company could not be reached for comment late Thursday.

The company, one of the pioneering chip makers in Silicon Valley, named Halla chief executive last month. He replaced Gilbert F. Amelio, who became CEO of Apple Computer Inc. in February. National has 20,000 employees worldwide.