Q1 sales soar for ARM on smartphone, tablet demand
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British chipmaker ARM has posted a better than expected 34% increase in first quarter earnings, helped by soaring demand for smartphones and tablet pcs. The Cambridge based company reported earnings per share of 2.73 pence, beating market forecasts of 2.5 pence. Revenue rose 26% to £116million.
"Influential market leaders are licensing ARM technology to gain access to a growing ecosystem of operating systems, software applications, tools and service providers," said ceo Warren East. "Many of these companies have been ARM licensees for many years and are now deploying ARM technology across a multitude of applications; in mobile, consumer electronics and embedded devices.
"This licensing drives ARM's long term royalty opportunity. Shipments of ARM processor based chips increased 33% on the same period last year driven by growth in smartphones, tablets, digital tvs and microcontrollers. ARM's revenue growth enables us to continue to invest in innovative technology development at the same time as delivering strong increases in profits and cash flow."
Looking forward, the company anticipates normal seasonality for royalty revenues in the second quarter and, notwithstanding the current uncertainty as to the economic impact of the Japanese earthquake on the semiconductor industry supply chain, it expects revenues for the full year 2011 to be at least in line with current market expectations.