Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Technology Stocks : Qualcomm Incorporated (QCOM) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Cooters who wrote (84799)	10/25/2000 9:46:50 PM
From: Sully-	Respond to of 152472

NEC Likely to See 1st-Half Profit on Communications Chip Sales 10/25/00 5:12:00 PM Source: Bloomberg News URL: cnetinvestor.com Tokyo, Oct. 26 (Bloomberg) -- NEC Corp., the world's No. 2 chipmaker, will probably return to profit in the first half on surging sales of communications and computer chips. The company will likely post group net income of 20 billion yen ($185.4 million) in the six months to Sept. 30 compared with a loss of 49 billion yen the same period a year ago, according to the consensus of three analysts surveyed by Bloomberg News. That matches the company's own forecast made in August. Increasing Internet traffic is boosting demand for NEC chips used in computer systems and telecommunication equipment. NEC, which lost money in the first half last year as sales of computer memory chips slumped, also makes semiconductors for mobile phones and other consumer appliances, sales of which are growing. ''Chip demand from mobile phones will be no problem because the potential boost of phone subscriptions in China and India will offset slowing growth in Europe and Japan,'' said Hiroyasu Nishikawa, an analyst at Cosmo Securities Co., who rates NEC ''buy.'' Chips accounted for 20 percent of NEC's group sales in the first half, the company said in August. The company, which plans to go public in the U.S., said it will update full-year earnings expectations when it announces first-half profit results later today. NEC said its forecast for operating profit from electronic components, including semiconductors and flat panel displays, in the six months to Sept. 30 will rise 15-fold from the previous year to 55 billion yen. The company will raise its annual dividend by 5 yen to 11 yen per share for the year ending March, the highest level in three years, the Nihon Keizai newspaper said on Oct. 22, without citing sources. NEC shares, like those of other Japanese chipmaker stocks, have fallen more than 10 percent after Intel Corp. said in September it may lag earnings expectations this year. The downgrading of earnings estimates were followed by U.S. electronics companies including Dell Computer Corp. and Motorola Inc. The Tokyo-based company's shares have fallen 8 percent since Jan. 1 compared with a 52 percent decline in the same period for rival Fujitsu Ltd., Japan's largest computer maker. DRAM Slam NEC and other Japanese chipmakers posted net losses in the year ended March 1999 because market prices for dynamic random access memory chips fell below production costs. Widespread losses for DRAM makers during this period led to factory closings around the world. NEC, together with Hitachi Ltd., Japan's third largest chipmaker, committed to maintain market share in the DRAM business while other Japanese makers such as Toshiba Corp. and Fujitsu Ltd. have diversified into other types of chips and contracted DRAM production to chipmakers in Taiwan. Elpida Memory Inc., a joint venture between NEC and Hitachi, plans to compete with foreign rivals by focusing on high-margin memory chips. Elpida will begin selling 256-megabit DRAMs using 0.13 micron technology in the first three month of next year, making the venture the first company in the world to do so, Elpida President Kenji Tokuyama said last month. Last year, NEC had an 8.8 percent share of the global DRAM market, making it the No. 4 memory chipmaker, according to Dataquest Inc. Hitachi is No. 7 with a 4.8 percent market share. Ö¿Ö