Not chips—you'll have to get those yourself. But for all the Americans hungry for interactive entertainment, Scientific-Atlanta is increasing its production of digital set-top boxes.

S-A plans to up production of its Explorer digital interactive set-tops to 6 million per year, turning them out at an average rate of 115,000 per week.

Nearly 5 million different versions of the Explorer set-tops have already been shipped. To meet the ambitious new goal of 1.5 million set-tops produced per quarter, S-A has added a seventh assembly and testing line to its Juarez, Mexico plant. All seven assembly lines will be producing the Explorer 2100 and 3100, the newest set-top design.

S-A also reports record financial results for its second fiscal quarter, with bookings, sales, operating profit, and backlog each setting all-time records.

For the quarter ending December 29, 2000, bookings were $707.3 million, an increase of $243.4 million, or 52 percent, over the prior year's second quarter. Sales of $631.4 million rose by $258.7 million, or 69 percent, from the same period a year ago. Net earnings for the quarter were $70.8 million, or $0.42 per share. This represents a $37.4 million, or 112 percent, improvement in net earnings over the comparable period of the prior year.