DALLAS-The chip market is not looking as cheery as a year ago as some of the bellwethers are witnessing slips in their fortunes. Texas Instruments Inc. and RF Micro Devices epitomized this trend as both failed to swing upward in their net earnings.
TI reported a fourth-quarter net income of $490 million, or 28 cents a share, compared with $512 million, or 29 cents a share, in the year-ago period. In spite of the slip, the company benefited from a low effective tax rate of 14 percent for the fourth quarter. It expected a tax rate of 21 percent.
TI had revenues of $3.15 billion, up 14 percent from $2.77 billion in the year-ago period. The company ascribed the revenue growth to demand for its chips for cell phones and big-screen televisions.
In spite of the drop in net earnings, the company beat its expectation, which included earnings per share of between 25 cents and 27 cents and revenue of between $3.02 billion and $3.14 billion.
RF Micro reported a third-quarter net income of $600,000 compared with $28.2 million or 13 cents per share a year earlier. The company attributed the figures to weak demand for its products in Asia and the United States.
Its revenue also fell to $168.9 million in its third quarter compared with $193 million a year earlier.
But a chip designer, ARM Holdings Ltd., has a different story. It recorded a fourth-quarter net profit of $8.46 million, or 2.4 cents per share, on four new license wins. The company also said it enjoyed royalty from shipments of 26 million customer chip shipments.
This contrasts with the year-ago period when it had a net loss of $811, 223.
Its revenue also rose 22 percent to $78.1 million.
