31.   Motorola could take steps to improve its chip business, analysts said.

32.   NEC Corp. will turn its attention to the rapidly growing market for flash memory as it attempts to beat falling profits from its mainstay memory chip business.

33.   Next to merge should be the large-scale integration, or LSI, chip businesses, which are suffering from similar problems.

34.   Of these, only Digital competes directly against Intel in the chip business, with its powerful Alpha processor.

35.   On Thursday, Growney toned down his remarks in an internal e-mail message to employees, saying that Motorola management is confident the chip business can turn itself around.

36.   Operating profits for the chip business were higher but would have been flat except for a net gain realized from a real estate transaction, the company said.

37.   Ruiz wound up in the chip business almost by accident.

38.   Second, Ruiz grew up in the technical half of the chip business.

39.   Senior company managers have said Motorola may be forced to sell or spin off the chip business if it cannot stop being a financial drag on the parent company.

40.   Senior managers at the parent company have said the chip business must get its business on solid footing soon or face a potential sale or spinoff.