MediaTek rises on reported forecast

MediaTek Inc (聯發科), Taiwan's biggest maker of mobile-phone chips, rose to its highest in more than two weeks in Taipei trading after a report said its shipments would increase 8 percent in the first quarter from the current period.

The stock gained 5.9 percent to close at NT$428 (US$13.16) yesterday, while the benchmark TAIEX index climbed 2.44 percent. Sophia Liang (梁厚誼), a MediaTek spokeswoman, said by telephone that the company hasn't provided a first-quarter forecast.

Texas Instruments Inc, the biggest maker of mobile-phone chips, and closest rival Qualcomm Inc this month both raised forecasts on stronger-than-expected demand. Growth in China, the world's biggest market for wireless phones by users, may compensate for a slowdown in the US economy.

"MediaTek will likely continue to benefit from strong handset demand from China, which is its biggest market," said Robyn Hsu (許家豪), who helps manage US$369 million funds at Truswell Securities Investment Trust Co (富鼎投信).

MediaTek may ship 65 million handset chips in the first quarter, the Chinese-language Commercial Times reported, without saying where it got the information. The increase will be driven by a decline in chip inventories at MediaTek's customers in China, the newspaper said.

Qualcomm's profit, excluding costs such as stock-based compensation, will increase to between US$0.52 and US$0.53 a share in the three months ending Dec. 30, the San Diego-based company said on Thursday.

The chipmaker said last month that earnings would climb to as much as US$0.52, from US$0.43 a year earlier.

Texas Instruments said on Dec. 10 that fourth-quarter sales will increase to at least US$3.5 billion. That compares with a prediction of US$3.4 billion to US$3.68 billion made when the Dallas-based chipmaker delivered quarterly results on Oct. 22.

China added a record 8.1 million subscribers in October for a total of 531.45 million, according to government data.