To: 16yearcycle who wrote (13904 ) 9/20/2002 9:32:06 AM From: 16yearcycle Read Replies (1) | Respond to of 57684 Qualcomm seeing strong chip demand Thursday September 19, 5:28 pm ET (Adds details, background) SAN DIEGO, Sept 19 (Reuters) - Wireless technology company Qualcomm Inc. (NasdaqNM:QCOM - News) on Thursday raised its guidance for chip shipments in its fourth quarter, citing strong demand, particularly for its advanced phone chips. Shares of Qualcomm jumped 5 percent to $27 in after-hours Nasdaq trading, up from Thursday's close at $25.72. The San Diego-based company said it expected to ship about 20 million chips in its fiscal quarter ending Sept. 29, up from its previous guidance of 18 million to 19 million chips. Qualcomm also said it expects to ship significantly more than 20 million chips in the first quarter of fiscal 2003 ending Dec. 29. The company shipped a little more than 16 million chips in its fiscal third quarter. Qualcomm owns most of the patents to Code Division Multiple Access, the dominant wireless technology standard used in the United States and second most commonly used technology in the world. It licenses its technology and sells CDMA chips for phone and other wireless devices. The company had said in July that it was being helped by the rapid worldwide growth of CDMA2000 1X, its advanced technology that gives users access to high-speed wireless Internet connections via cell phones. Qualcomm expects 15 million of the 20 million chip shipments expected in the fourth quarter to be CDMA2000 1X chips. Qualcomm, like other telecommunications firms, had been suffering from the sluggish economy and lower industry spending. The stock has fallen almost 50 percent so far this year as investors worried about weak chip demand. The company in July said it expected fourth-quarter pro forma earnings per share of 26 cents to 27 cents with pro forma revenue increasing 10 percent to 13 percent from the third quarter's $721 million.biz.yahoo.com