Conexant joins list of suppliers to report improving revenue

Conexant Systems Inc. today announced its revenue for the December quarter will rise as much as 7% from the prior quarter, joining the growing band of semiconductor suppliers forecasting stable or improved sales.

The Newport Beach, Calif., company said its revenue outlook improved from earlier expectations due to higher orders from wireless telecommunication equipment manufacturers.

Sales in the company's wireless chip unit will rise 25% in its fiscal first quarter ending Dec. 28, Conexant said.

�Through the first two months of the quarter, our wireless revenues have exceeded our expectations,� said Dwight Decker, Conexant's chairman and chief executive, in a statement. �This is the result of strong demand across our wireless product portfolio, including power amplifiers, complete GSM cellular systems solutions, and radio frequency subsystems.�

Conexant posted revenue of $201 million in the September quarter, down 64% from $561 million in the comparable year-ago quarter, but up slightly from $200 million in the prior three month period. The company was among only a few semiconductor suppliers to post sequentially higher or flat sales in the third quarter of this year.

Today's statement from Conexant confirms analysts' expectations that the wireless handset market will rebound faster than the infrastructure end, which is still battling inventory problems and a slowdown in capital spending at telecom service providers.

It appears Conexant's wireless infrastructure business is holding down sales growth at the company although Decker indicated that the unit is also performing in line with expectations.

�With aggregate revenues from our other businesses in line with our original projections, we now expect total Conexant first quarter revenues to increase 5% to 7% over the fourth fiscal quarter of last year,� Decker said.