AMD warns of significant dip in Q4 earnings

news
Jan 12, 20071 min

AMD says falling chip prices will cause income to be positive but 'substantially lower' than Q3

Tumbling microprocessor prices have prompted Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) to warn of a dip in earnings ahead of its fourth-quarter results at the end of the month.

The chip maker expects fourth-quarter operating income to be positive but “substantially lower” than in the third quarter, it said Thursday.

The company, which gave no figure, reported operating income of $119 million in the third quarter.

AMD attributed the dip in earnings to a sharp drop in prices for PC processors, which largely offset a “significant increase” in unit sales.

For the fourth quarter, which ended Dec. 31, AMD expects revenue, excluding its recent acquisition of ATI Technologies Inc., to increase 3 percent from the $1.33 billion reported in the third quarter.

Analysts had been expecting AMD to report fourth-quarter revenue of $1.85 billion and earnings per share of $0.23, according to Thomson Financial.

AMD, which will report its fourth-quarter results Jan. 23, has been taking semiconductor market share away from rival Intel in the last year with new dual-core processors, forcing Intel into a defensive posture.