Benjamin Moody got hooked on calculators the moment his father bought him one to help with his math homework when he was 15. He squirreled away with it and devoured the 19-chapter owners’ manual.

Before long, he had written onto his Texas Instruments Inc. (TXN) graphing calculator a program for his version of a Whac-A-Mole game. A few months later, he created one that mapped out star positions on its 1½-inch-by-2½-inch screen. He once made his calculator into a sort of e-book reader, although he could only read a couple lines at a time.

“Pushing the limits of what the hardware can do, that’s where a lot of the fun is,” said Mr. Moody, 23, a computer programmer who lives in Newton, Mass.

Calculator hackers are a small band of enthusiasts who revel in making their clunky devices perform sometimes oddball tasks.

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It was a big deal when Texas Instruments (TXN) announced plans in 2003 for a massive chip factory in a suburb of Dallas, its home town. Six years later, the company is finally preparing for production there–under a strategy that has changed dramatically.

The company said Tuesday it expects to begin moving manufacturing equipment in October into the facility in Richardson known as RFAB, which has stood empty since the building’s shell was completed in 2006. Those machines will process silicon wafers that are 300 millimeters in diameter, which allows companies to churn out chips at the lowest per-unit cost.

That part fits the original plan. But instead of making advanced digital chips, RFAB will manufacture products based on analog technology–becoming the first 300-millimeter production line turning out such chips. (Others use 200-millimeter wafers).

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There’s been buzz about Apple’s (AAPL) interest in microprocessor designers ever since the company bought the Silicon Valley startup P.A. Semi last year. But there’s ample evidence that the company’s hiring of chip-heads started much earlier, and is continuing. The question: what is Apple going to do with these guys?

One goal of CEO Steve Jobs is pretty clear–developing powerful, energy-efficient microchips for its iPhone, iPod touch and other future devices. Postings by Apple’s recent hires on the Web site LinkedIn include plenty of people who previously worked at cellphone chip makers, such as Texas Instruments (TXN) and Qualcomm (QCOM).

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Shares of companies in the mobile phone sector are staging a furious rally today, with many companies up by 10 percent or more, on some hints from the industry that demand might be bottoming. Here are a few factors contributing to the more bullish tone:

• Texas Instruments (TXN) last night narrowed its Q1 guidance range. The post-earnings conference call was hardly bullish, but TXN VP for investor relations Ron Slaymaker did say that the company’s wireless business is doing a little better than expected, and that “the handset number came up a little bit relative to our initial expectation.”
• According to a research note from Raymond James analyst Todd Koffman, executives from RF Micro Devices (RFMD) speaking at the Raymond James conference in Orlando yesterday said that handset demand has strengthened in the current quarter, with February stronger than January, and January stronger than December. The company indicated that it expects rapid improvement in capacity utilization, which was at just 25 percent in early March.

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Texas Instruments (TXN) this afternoon said it will cut its staff by 12 percent, including 1,800 layoffs and 1,600 voluntary retirements and departures. The company will take about $300 million in related charges. TI said total saving from the latest cuts and the restructuring of its wireless business late last year will total about $700 million after all reductions are completed in Q3.

Meanwhile, the company posted slightly better than expected results for Q4, with revenues of $2.49 billion and non-GAAP profits of 21 cents a share, beating the Street at $2.37 billion and 12 cents.

For Q1, however, Texas Instruments sees revenue of $1.62 billion to $2.12 billion, which would be down 15 to 35 percent sequentially from Q4. The company sees EPS for the quarter ranging from a loss of 11 cents a share to a profit of three cents, including charges of three cents a share for restructuring. Back those out, and you get a range of loss of eight cents to a profit of six cents. The Street has been expecting $2.1 billion and four cents.

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Well, you knew this was coming. (Or you should have.)

Texas Instruments (TXN) this afternoon sharply reduced its Q4 outlook.

The chipmaker now sees Q4 revenue of $2.3 billion to $2.5 billion, down from previous guidance of $2.83 billion to $3.07 billion. The company sees profits of 10-16 cents a share, down from 30-36 cents. The Street consensus had been $2.91 billion and 31 cents. While expectations of reduced guidance were widespread, I’m not sure that anyone thought it would be quite this bad.

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Semiconductor companies are planning sharp production cuts for both Q4 2008 and Q1 2009, according to a report today by Craig Berger, chip analyst at Friedman Billings Ramsey. He says that PC chip firms are seeing “significant production weakness,” as are communications IC producers–and that semiconductor companies are adjusting their own output accordingly.

Here’s a rundown on Berger’s outlook for production in the next few quarters from key chip companies; what he’s measuring here are wafer starts, or a little more roughly, units:

• Broadcom (BRCM): He sees production down 13 percent in Q4 from Q3, worse than his previous estimate of down eight percent; for Q1 he sees a further 17 percent cut.
• Marvell (MRVL): For Q4, down 18 percent, versus previous estimate of down 13 percent. For Q1, down another 10 percent.
• Texas Instruments (TXN): For Q4, production down 18 percent, no change; with Q1 down another 20 percent.

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Texas Instruments (TXN) this evening reported Q3 sales and profit per share just short of estimates. The company said sales in the quarter fell 8 percent, year over year, to $3.38 billion, with profit per share of 43 cents. That was more or less in line with the company’s midquarter update back on Sept. 9, but below analysts’ expectations for $3.4 billion and 44 cents.

The outlook for the current, December-ending quarter is grim indeed. The company forecast sales in a range of $2.83 billion to $3.07 billion, and profit per share of 30 cents and 36 cents; analysts have been expecting profit of 43 cents on sales of $3.34 billion.

TI chairman, president and chief executive Rich Templeton commented, “In anticipation of declining demand, we reduced our own inventory aggressively in the third quarter, which brought factory utilization down and put additional pressure on our profitability.”

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