Renesas Technology Corp, the world’s largest privately held chipmaker, said profit will decline 6 percent this year because of a stronger yen and a slowdown in the global economy.
Operating profit may fall to ¥41 billion (US$394 million) in the year to next March 31 from ¥43.6 billion a year earlier, the Tokyo-based company said yesterday. Revenue will probably climb 2.1 percent to ¥970 billion.
Renesas, Japan’s second-largest chipmaker, joins NEC Electronics Corp in forecasting lower earnings as the fallout from the subprime mortgage market weakens the dollar and US consumer spending.
Global sales of semiconductors will probably remain flat this year, chairman Satoru Ito said at a briefing in Tokyo.
“The first half of the year is shaping up to be rather difficult,” Ito said. “What will happen in the second half is anyone’s guess, but we expect the macro environment to begin improving.”
A ¥1 appreciation against the dollar will reduce the value of the company’s revenue by ¥2 billion and operating profit, or sales minus the cost of goods sold and administrative expenses, by a billion yen this year, Ito said.
Renesas expects the dollar to average ¥100 this year, compared with about ¥115 a year earlier.
The yen has strengthened 6.8 percent against the US currency this year, adding to a 6.1 percent gain last year.
EC Electronics, Japan’s third-biggest chipmaker, last week said the yen’s appreciation against the dollar will reduce revenue by ¥30 billion this year, and cut operating profit by ¥20 billion.
Renesas, established in 2003 by Hitachi Ltd and Mitsubishi Electric Corp, makes microcontrollers, analog chips and semiconductors for products including mobile phones and car-navigation systems.
COMPETITION: AMD, Intel and Qualcomm are unveiling new laptop and desktop parts in Las Vegas, arguing their technologies provide the best performance for AI workloads Advanced Micro Devices Inc (AMD), the second-biggest maker of computer processors, said its chips are to be used by Dell Technologies Inc for the first time in PCs sold to businesses. The chipmaker unveiled new processors it says would make AMD-based PCs the best at running artificial intelligence (AI) software. Dell has decided to use the chips in some of its computers aimed at business customers, AMD executives said at CES in Las Vegas on Monday. Dell’s embrace of AMD for corporate PCs — it already uses the chipmaker for consumer devices — is another blow for Intel Corp as the company
STIMULUS PLANS: An official said that China would increase funding from special treasury bonds and expand another program focused on key strategic sectors China is to sharply increase funding from ultra-long treasury bonds this year to spur business investment and consumer-boosting initiatives, a state planner official told a news conference yesterday, as Beijing cranks up fiscal stimulus to revitalize its faltering economy. Special treasury bonds would be used to fund large-scale equipment upgrades and consumer goods trade-ins, said Yuan Da (袁達), deputy secretary-general of the Chinese National Development and Reform Commission. “The size of ultra-long special government bond funds will be sharply increased this year to intensify and expand the implementation of the two new initiatives,” Yuan said. Under the program launched last year, consumers can
Citigroup Inc and Bank of America Corp said they are leaving a global climate-banking group, becoming the latest Wall Street lenders to exit the coalition in the past month. In a statement, Citigroup said while it remains committed to achieving net zero emissions, it is exiting the Net-Zero Banking Alliance (NZBA). Bank of America said separately on Tuesday that it is also leaving NZBA, adding that it would continue to work with clients on reducing greenhouse gas emissions. The banks’ departure from NZBA follows Goldman Sachs Group Inc and Wells Fargo & Co. The largest US financial institutions are under increasing pressure
FUTURE TECH: Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang would give the keynote speech at this year’s Consumer Electronics Show, which is also expected to highlight autonomous vehicles Gadgets, robots and vehicles imbued with artificial intelligence (AI) would once again vie for attention at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) this week, as vendors behind the scenes would seek ways to deal with tariffs threatened by US president-elect Donald Trump. The annual Consumer Electronics Show opens formally in Las Vegas tomorrow, but preceding days are packed with product announcements. AI would be a major theme of the show, along with autonomous vehicles ranging from tractors and boats to lawn mowers and golf club trollies. “Everybody is going to be talking about AI,” Creative Strategies Inc analyst Carolina Milanesi said. “From fridges to ovens
RSS