NXP Semiconductors NV shares yesterday fell in premarket trading after the company announced a new chief executive officer as part of its quarterly earnings report and warned that tariff threats had created “a very uncertain environment.”
CEO Kurt Sievers, 56, is to retire late this year, the Dutch chipmaker said in a statement on Monday.
Rafael Sotomayor, a current NXP executive, is to assume the role of president immediately — on the way to becoming the new CEO on Oct. 28.
Photo: Reuters
Tariffs announced by US President Donald Trump threaten to add further upheaval to the industry, which has been working through a backlog accumulated after the COVID-19 pandemic.
NXP’s peers, such as STMicroelectronics NV and Infineon Technologies AG, have struggled with weak demand for mature chips used in electric vehicles or smartphones.
NXP said Sievers, who has been CEO since 2020 and has been with the company for three decades, is leaving on good terms with the board. Sotomayor joined the company in 2014 from Broadcom Inc.
The shares tumbled about 8 percent in premarket trading yesterday before New York exchanges opened. They had declined 5.6 percent this year to close at US$196.24 on Monday.
As part of the earnings report, NXP forecast that revenue would decline to US$2.8 billion to US$3 billion in the second quarter. That compares with an average analyst estimate of US$2.86 billion, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
The company said it has a “cautious optimism” that it can continue to navigate a challenging market.
“We are operating in a very uncertain environment influenced by tariffs with volatile direct and indirect effects,” NXP said.
First-quarter revenue fell 9 percent year-on-year to US$2.84 billion and adjusted diluted earnings per share in the period were US$2.64. Analysts had estimated US$2.83 billion in sales and US$2.60 a share in earnings.
Despite the downturn, NXP invested in acquisitions this year. The company in January agreed to buy Austrian software maker TTTech Auto for US$625 million to develop more solutions for software-defined vehicles.
NXP in February also announced the takeover of Kinara, a developer for processing units enabling artificial intelligence applications, for US$307 million.
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