Investopedia: Atmel's Investment Case Is Touch And Go

For years bears have been waiting for Atmel (Nasdaq:ATML) to come up with some sort of product to really stand out from the crowd. Now that they have it, the worries have shifted to whether the company may become too dependent on them and risk losing share to a host of would-be rivals. Although Atmel is not the safest pick in the chip space, several potential market rebounds could drive better results in 2012 and 2013.

Good Touch and Bad Touch  
Atmel's maXTouch solutions for touchscreen controllers have definitely spiced up its microcontroller business, though it is not the largest business yet. In this case the name is pretty self-explanatory; maXTouch chips allow for the touchscreen interfaces that are now so commonplace in smartphones and tablets. Atmel has garnered an early lead in this fast-growing market, in part due to technology good enough to get it in eight of the top 10 phones in early 2011.

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