RF Micro powers to record quarterly sales
Leading GaAs chip manufacturer RF Micro Devices posted record sales of $246.9 million in the financial quarter that ended on September 30.
The Greensboro, NC, company is expecting the strong performance to continue, and said that the current quarter, which ends on December 31, will likely deliver sales of up to $280 million.
Despite the record sales figure, RFMD actually made a net loss of $20 million according to official US accounting procedures. However, this was due solely to the company's decision to sell its depreciated investment in the advanced silicon foundry Jazz Semiconductor.
RFMD's operating performance, which excludes the Jazz transaction, yielded an income of $13 million, down slightly on the prior quarter but up strongly from just $5.5 million in the equivalent quarter last year.
Dean Priddy, the company's CFO, said that RFMD had been able to improve its profit margin through in-house manufacture of GaAs PHEMT devices at the Greensboro fab and lower production costs at its assembly facility in China.
If Priddy's forecast is correct, and RFMD posts sales in the $270 million range for the seasonally-strong December quarter, the firm will be well on course to reach its long-term target of $1 billion revenue for the fiscal year.
