Texas Instruments Inc has blamed the Japanese earthquake for its disappointing financial results, which came in below analyst estimates.
The chipmaker disclosed first-quarter revenue of $3.39 billion, down from $3.525 billion last quarter. It also posted net income of $666 million and earnings per share of 55 cents compared with $942 million and earnings per share of 78 cents back in Q2. In the same quarter last year, TI posted revenue of $3.205 billion, net income of $658 million and earnings per share of 52 cents.
Analysts had been predicting TI to earn 58 cents a share on sales of $3.4 billion, but the company said its results had suffered owing to around $30 million in costs resulting from the Japan earthquake where the firm has a wafer fab in Miho.
The fab is due to be back up to full production by mid-July, which pushes chip shipments back to September. Another TI fab in Aizu will supposedly be back up and running earlier, with full production expected to be back by mid-April.
Demand for TI’s products was also reportedly down by 2% year on year, although orders were up 14% over the previous quarter.
Rich Templeton, TI chairman, president and chief executive said “the Japan earthquake that’s taken such a heartbreaking human toll in the country also disrupted local demand starting in mid-March and impaired operations at two of our factories there. This impact and substantially weaker demand for Wireless baseband chips resulted in revenue that was below the middle of our expected range.”
The impact of this, coupled with substantially weaker demand for Wireless baseband chips resulted in revenue that was below TI’s expectations, Templeton continued.
The CEO reassured investors, however, that recovery of operations in Japan was “progressing well.”
Nonetheless, he explained, “many of our Japanese customers remain in the early stages of reopening their own factories, and we and our customers face potential supply chain disruptions.”
Templeton said that while his firm was still expecting growth in the second quarter, that growth would be tempered by the ongoing situation in Japan.
Optimistically, however, the CEO noted that “provided consumer and enterprise demand remain strong, we expect a good second half of the year.”
Just a couple of weeks ago, the firm announced plans to acquire rival National Semiconductor Corp. for $6.5 billion, so the situation cannot be all that bleak.
The firm has also just unveiled its new Qi-compliant wireless power receiver chip, being touted as one of the smallest available at 80% smaller than its predecessor – making it ideal for upcoming smartphones.
The chip is said to be capable of 5W output power with 93% peak efficiency comparable to an AC adapter.
