Matrox posts a $550 million year, its 23rd straight in the black

Matrox’s privately held group closed its 1998/99 fiscal year on March 31 with US$550 million in combined sales and a 23rd consecutive year of profit. Matrox Graphics did the heavy lifting at US$473 million, with Matrox Electronic Systems adding US$77 million. Chip sales hit five million units, board sales climbed from six million to ten million (a 40 percent jump overall), and the company says it hit its profit targets despite the price freefall that defined the PC business in 1998.

The MGA-G100 and G200 chips drove the volume, and the Millennium G200 board keeps collecting trophies: 127 press awards and PC World’s World Class Award for the best graphics card of 1999. With Compaq, Hewlett Packard, IBM, and Dell on the customer list, Matrox is doing fine. Still, with the G400 rolling out against the TNT2 and Voodoo3 at retail, next year’s numbers are the ones to watch.