MediaTek Inc (聯發科) yesterday posted better-than-expected revenue of NT$47.54 billion (US$1.48 billion) for last quarter, which slightly beat UBS Securities Pte Ltd’s estimate of NT$47.35 billion and CIMB Securities Ltd’s forecast of NT$47.4 billion.
The company — locked in fierce competition with Qualcomm Inc for the handset chip business — attributed its performance to revenue more than doubling last month on restocking demand from Chinese clients ahead of the Labor Day holidays.
Revenue jumped to NT$20.4 billion last month from NT$9.67 billion in February and rose 3.33 percent from NT$17.43 billion in the same period last year.
MediaTek’s first-quarter revenue fell 14.27 percent from NT$55.45 billion recorded in the final quarter of last year, in line with its previous forecast that revenue would shrink between 10 and 18 percent quarter-by-quarter.
MediaTek president Hsieh -Ching-jiang (謝清江) in February said that the January-to-March quarter would be the weakest period of this year for the company, as major clients were scaling back smartphone chip orders on inventory correction. Smartphone chip shipments would drop to about 85 million units in the first three months of the year from 100 million units recorded in the previous quarter, he said.
Lenovo Group Ltd (聯想), TCL Corp, ZTE Corp (中興) and Coolpad (酷派) are major Chinese customers of MediaTek, which faces intensifying competition in the 3G chip business from Chinese rivals including Spreadtrum Communications Inc (展訊通信) and Rockchip Electronics Corp (瑞芯微).
UBS analyst Eric Chen (陳慧明) said in a report last month that the first quarter would be a trough for MeidaTek in terms of gross margin, which would stand at 47 percent due to deeper price cuts for 3G chips. UBS predicted MediaTek would see NT$7.78 billion in profit for the first quarter, compared with NT$7.5 billion profit forecast by CIMB.
MediaTek shares rose 0.24 percent to NT$422 yesterday, outperforming the TAIEX, which dropped by 0.04 percent.
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