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ESCAPE TO SF

by Tom Cantrell

Start ı ıNet Bet ı Memorola ı Hills Are Always Greener ı SHake Up ı Mitsu Who? ı Soft Cell ı Little Lisıner ı Sources and PDF

MITSU WHO?

Free association test. What companies come to mind when you hear the word microcontroller. Surely Motorola and Microchip. Probably Zilog and Hitachi. Possibly Atmel or Philips.

Probably not Mitsubishi. In the U.S., if anything comes to mind it may be cars or, talk about a PR challenge, WWII fighter planes.

Although it hasnıt been easy, some Japanese companiesıSony, Hitachi, and NEC come to mindıhave globalized and modernized marketing beyond their inscrutable Keiretsu roots. The old way worked all right to cozy up with similarly super-sized U.S. customers like IBM, GM, and HP. But Japanese companies learned the hard way that they couldnıt make a dent in the unwashed masses of the small- and mid-size customers that comprise the bulk of the U.S. microcontroller market.

According to their press release, Mitsubishi is number four in the worldwide MCU market and even number one for 16-bit MCUs. However, I suspect the volume is mainly Japan followed by Europe and no doubt relies in the traditional way on a few heavy-hitter focus accounts.

Now, it appears Mitsubishi is starting to get it and is ramping up with a strategy to become a player in the U.S. merchant micro market.

Sure, theyıve got a huge lineup of competitive parts from 8- to 32-bits, with all the usual features and even whizzy stuff like flash memory and USB. But for a long time, good parts have been only a necessary (but definitely not sufficient) prerequisite for success in micros. Beyond that, itıs the marketing and support that separate the winners from the losers.

Judging from what I can see, Mitsubishi is off to a good, if belated, start. Theyıve appointed seasoned U.S. execs to run the show, invested heavily in U.S. design and support capability, are pursuing rather than shunning smaller distribution customers, and spiffed up the tools and docs (see Photo 3).

Photo 3ıThe new starter kits for Mitsubishiıs extensive line of microcontrollers belie the companyıs staid industry image.

Time will tell whether or not Mitsubishi has the patience and staying power to make it work. The stakes are high. Youıre either in the microcontroller business all the way or you are (or will inevitably be) driven out.

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