Local San Jose wireless chip maker Altera has said it will boost its R&D spending in 2011 while optimistically forecasting a rise of between 3-6% in its fourth quarter revenue – in line with earlier analyst predictions.
Altera’s quarterly revenue guidance has been steady and unchanged since its previous forecast issued in October during its Q3 earnings announcement.
The firm expects its gross margin in 2011 to be within a percentage point of 70%, exactly the same as in Q3, though the financial stability seems to have boosted Altera’s confidence enough to prompt a decision for increasing the firm’s R&D spending budget by 26%, to some $330 million as it pushes towards 28nm chips.
Altera’s programmable logic chips mainly end up in wireless base stations, radars and cars and indeed the market for such chips as a whole is expected to grow over the next year.
Altera’s quiet confidence didn’t seem to have too much immediate impact on investors, however, as shares in the firm fell 0.9%t in after-hours trading to $35, after dropping 2 cents at $35.47 in the regular Nasdaq session.
