Micron Technology Inc, the largest US maker of memory chips, jumped in late trading on Monday after giving an upbeat forecast for the current quarter, helped by demand from networking, data center and automotive customers.
Sales would be about US$7.5 billion in the period ending in February, Micron said in a statement.
That compares with an average estimate among analysts of US$7.32 billion, data compiled by Bloomberg showed.
Photo: Bloomberg
Excluding some items, profit would be about US$1.95 a share, the company said.
Analysts projected US$1.86.
Under Micron chief executive officer Sanjay Mehrotra, the firm is benefiting from the use of memory chips in a wider range of products — from vehicles to home appliances.
That has made the Boise, Idaho-based company less dependent on the personal computer and smartphone market for revenue.
Demand for chips used in data center computers and industrial machinery underscored Micron’s success pushing into new areas, Mehrotra told analysts on a conference call.
More availability of other types of components is also helping PC makers begin to build more machines, improving orders from those customers. They had struggled to make enough computers to meet demand because of a shortage of parts.
Micron’s fiscal first quarter puts it on course for record annual revenue and healthy profit, Mehrotra said.
“Today it’s not just the data center — it’s all end markets that are fueling the data economy,” he said in an interview.
Memory and storage would continue to grow faster than the rest of the chip industry, propelled by these new markets, he said.
“These things are not just about calendar 2022,” he said. “They’re even beyond that.”
In the three months ended Dec. 2, the company posted revenue of US$7.69 billion, up 33 percent from a year earlier. Net income was US$2.3 billion, or US$2.04 per share.
Micron’s shares rallied as much as 7.3 percent to US$88 in extended trading following the report. They had gained 9.1 percent this year through Monday’s close, lagging behind an overall surge in chip-related stocks.
The Philadelphia Stock Exchange Semiconductor Index has climbed 34 percent this year.
Micron competes with South Korea’s Samsung Electronics Co, SK Hynix Inc and Japan’s Kioxia Holdings Corp in a memorychip market that has consolidated over the past decade.
The company is to spend US$11 billion to US$12 billion on new plants and equipment this fiscal year.
CHANGE OF FORTUNES: Concern over a pricey valuation and the risk of tighter US curbs on chip sales to China have poured cold water on TSMC’s bullish momentum Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) shares fell the most in three months yesterday upon trading resumption, joining a global technology rout as investors dramatically soured on the promises of artificial intelligence (AI). The shares declined 5.62 percent to close at NT$924 in Taipei, dragging down the benchmark TAIEX, which fell 3.29 percent to 22,119.21 points amid a technical correction, Taiwan Stock Exchange data showed. Other chip stocks also fell, with ASE Technology Holding Co (日月光投控) plunging 9.86 percent, MediaTek Inc (聯發科) dropping 2.35 percent, Realtek Semiconductor Corp (瑞昱) falling 1.33 percent and United Microelectronics Corp (聯電) retreating 1.17 percent, while Apple
Odd lot trades of contract chipmaker Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co’s (TSMC, 台積電) shares surged on Friday, although the stock faced headwinds, tumbling more than 5 percent in the session, the Taiwan Stock Exchange (TWSE) said. The volume of odd lot trades of TSMC shares totaled about 9.84 million shares on Friday, up sharply by about 400 percent from Tuesday, in a session before the local stock market closed due to Typhoon Gaemi on Wednesday and Thursday, the TWSE added. Stocks in Taiwan are usually bought or sold in lots of 1,000 shares. The nation lifted a ban on odd lots during regular
ECONOMY DRIVER: The upbeat sentiment came even though home prices rose 4.8 to 17 percent in the six special municipalities, as well as Hsinchu city and county Housing transactions in the first six months of this year soared 27 percent from a year earlier to 177,000 units, two separate surveys showed, despite steep price increases in some major urban centers. Sinyi Realty Inc (信義房屋), Taiwan’s only listed broker, yesterday said that there was an increase in transactions for new and existing houses as buyer interest spiked. More increases are expected, Sinyi Realty said. The upbeat sentiment came even though home prices rose 4.8 to 17 percent in the six special municipalities — Taipei, New Taipei City, Taoyuan, Taichung, Tainan and Kaohsiung — as well as Hsinchu city and county, Sinyi
DAVID AND GOLIATH: On Tuesday, regulators in the US, EU and UK signed a joint statement setting out key principles to protect the AI industry from unfair competition It is the case of the vanishing start-up: Some of Silicon Valley’s most promising names in the fast-developing generative artificial intelligence (AI) space are being gobbled up by or tied to the hip of US tech giants. Short on funds, in the past few months promising companies like Inflection AI Inc or Adept AI Labs Inc have seen founders and key executives quietly exit the stage to join the world’s dominant tech companies through discrete transactions. Critics believe these deals are acquisitions in all but name and have been especially designed by Microsoft Corp or Amazon.com Inc to avoid the attention of