Advanced Micro Devices Inc’s first-quarter loss matched Wall Street’s lowered expectations, with the slumping chip maker hurt by its inability to unload older products and economic turbulence that damped down consumer spending.
The Sunnyvale, California-based company said on Thursday that it lost US$358 million, or US$0.59 per share, during the first three months of the year, its sixth quarterly loss in a row. AMD lost US$611 million, or US$1.11 per share, in the same period last year.
Stripping out US$08 per share in one-time charges connected to AMD’s acquisition of graphics chip maker ATI Technologies, the company lost US$0.51 per share in the latest period, matching the average estimate of analysts polled by Thomson Financial.
Sales of US$1.51 billion were 22 percent higher than last year and in line with analysts’ subdued expectations.
AMD warned earlier this month that sales across all business lines were lower than anticipated. It also announced plans to jettison 10 percent of its global work force, or about 1,600 workers, in an aggressive cost-cutting move to be completed by September.
Chief financial officer Robert Rivet blamed the first-quarter loss on seasonal weakness, the economy and lower-than-expected sales of old products.
He said that the company expects to become profitable on an operating basis in the second half of this year.
AMD has racked up more than US$4 billion in losses in a skid that stretches back to the last three months of 2006, when intensifying competition from larger rival Intel Corp and the costs of the ATI acquisition began to take their toll on AMD.
Lengthy product delays have also hurt AMD’s ability to win new customers and steal market share from Intel.
AMD’s new Opteron server chip — critical to the company’s financial recovery — was delayed for eight months after its official launch in September because of technical glitches. They didn’t roll out in force until this month, when Hewlett-Packard began shipping servers with the new chips.
MORE VISITORS: The Tourism Administration said that it is seeing positive prospects in its efforts to expand the tourism market in North America and Europe Taiwan has been ranked as the cheapest place in the world to travel to this year, based on a list recommended by NerdWallet. The San Francisco-based personal finance company said that Taiwan topped the list of 16 nations it chose for budget travelers because US tourists do not need visas and travelers can easily have a good meal for less than US$10. A bus ride in Taipei costs just under US$0.50, while subway rides start at US$0.60, the firm said, adding that public transportation in Taiwan is easy to navigate. The firm also called Taiwan a “food lover’s paradise,” citing inexpensive breakfast stalls
TRADE: A mandatory declaration of origin for manufactured goods bound for the US is to take effect on May 7 to block China from exploiting Taiwan’s trade channels All products manufactured in Taiwan and exported to the US must include a signed declaration of origin starting on May 7, the Bureau of Foreign Trade announced yesterday. US President Donald Trump on April 2 imposed a 32 percent tariff on imports from Taiwan, but one week later announced a 90-day pause on its implementation. However, a universal 10 percent tariff was immediately applied to most imports from around the world. On April 12, the Trump administration further exempted computers, smartphones and semiconductors from the new tariffs. In response, President William Lai’s (賴清德) administration has introduced a series of countermeasures to support affected
CROSS-STRAIT: The vast majority of Taiwanese support maintaining the ‘status quo,’ while concern is rising about Beijing’s influence operations More than eight out of 10 Taiwanese reject Beijing’s “one country, two systems” framework for cross-strait relations, according to a survey released by the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) on Thursday. The MAC’s latest quarterly survey found that 84.4 percent of respondents opposed Beijing’s “one country, two systems” formula for handling cross-strait relations — a figure consistent with past polling. Over the past three years, opposition to the framework has remained high, ranging from a low of 83.6 percent in April 2023 to a peak of 89.6 percent in April last year. In the most recent poll, 82.5 percent also rejected China’s
PLUGGING HOLES: The amendments would bring the legislation in line with systems found in other countries such as Japan and the US, Legislator Chen Kuan-ting said Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Chen Kuan-ting (陳冠廷) has proposed amending national security legislation amid a spate of espionage cases. Potential gaps in security vetting procedures for personnel with access to sensitive information prompted him to propose the amendments, which would introduce changes to Article 14 of the Classified National Security Information Protection Act (國家機密保護法), Chen said yesterday. The proposal, which aims to enhance interagency vetting procedures and reduce the risk of classified information leaks, would establish a comprehensive security clearance system in Taiwan, he said. The amendment would require character and loyalty checks for civil servants and intelligence personnel prior to
RSS