Handset chip designer MediaTek Inc (聯發科) posted its weakest monthly revenue in 22 months last month amid intensifying pricing competition.
Revenue inched lower by 0.19 percent to NT$7.36 billion (US$249 million) last month from October’s NT$7.38 billion, its lowest level since January last year as rivals, primarily China’s Spreadtrum Communications Inc (展訊), nibbled away at MediaTek’s market share.
The firm said in a statement that revenue fell 27.2 percent last month from NT$10.11 billion a year ago.
MediaTek is expected to see a rebound of 15 percent in revenues next month to NT$8.5 billion, which would help keep it on track to hit its fourth-quarter revenue outlook, Credit Suisse analyst Randy Abrams said in a report released yesterday.
MediaTek yesterday said it would stick to its fourth-quarter revenue forecast of a fall of between 15 and 20 percent to between NT$22.5 billion and NT$24 billion this quarter from last quarter.
This quarter’s revenue, however, could fall short of Credit Suisse’s expectation of a 15 percent decline as a slower start implied that the chipmaker’s revenue was tracking toward the midpoint of the decline between 15 percent and 20 percent forecast by the company.
MediaTek was likely to see blended prices drop below US$5 per unit into the current quarter, down from its stable level around US$8 through 2008 and early last year, Abrams forecast.
Separately, MediaTek chairman Tsai Ming-kai (蔡明介) told reporters that smartphones would deliver growth opportunity for the firm that is working to break into the market.
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Motorists ride past a mural along a street in Varanasi, India, yesterday.
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