Mobile chipmakers raise guidance

Mobile chipmakers Texas Instruments and Qualcomm upgraded their financial projections for the current quarter, signaling increased growth in the wireless market.

TI said its total Q4 revenues would be between $3.560 billion and $3.705 billion, narrowed from its early projections of $3.425 billion to $3.715 billion. Revenue from its semiconductor sales would be at the upper end of its previous outlook, accounting for $3.200 and $3.325 billion of its revenues, increasing the lower end of its projections by $125 million. Qualcomm said today that its Q1 revenues would fall on the high end of its previous projections of approximately $1.67 billion to $1.77 billion.

Both chipmakers said their improved outlooks were based on improving sales in their wireless chipset divisions. Qualcomm said it expects to ship 47 million Mobile Station Modem (MSM) chips this quarter, up from 39 million a year ago. As for total new CDMA/WCDMA handsets shipped in the quarter, Qualcomm’s estimates fell squarely in the middle of its previous projections of 51 million to 53 million units. But Qualcomm said it anticipated the average selling price for phone would be higher than expected, rising from $206 per phone to $213.