Shares of suppliers to Apple drop after an iPhone chip partner predicts ‘weak demand’ for smartphones

Release time：2018-04-25
author：Ameya360
source：CNBC
reading：1142

A disappointing forecast from a key Apple chip partner drove shares of iPhone suppliers lower.

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing said Thursday that its revenue forecast range for the second quarter is $7.8 billion to $7.9 billion versus the Wall Street estimate of $8.8 billion.

"Moving into second quarter 2018, continued weak demand from our mobile sector will negatively impact our business," the company's chief financial officer, Lora Ho, said in a statement.

TSMC is the world's largest semiconductor foundry company and manufactures chips for Apple and its component suppliers.

Morgan Stanley said Apple's iPhone was a big reason for TSMC's poor guidance.

"Smartphone semi weakness [is] the main reason for the revenue shortfall," analyst Charlie Chan wrote in a note to clients Thursday. "Beside the order cuts from the current Apple iPhone X processor, we attribute the major revenue shortfall in the smartphone segment to key customer MediaTek ... and around a month's delay of Apple's new 7nm processor to July."

As a result, the stock prices of Apple suppliers dropped Thursday.Skyworks Solutions, Qualcomm, Cirrus Logic, Qorvo and Analog Devices shares all declined more than 3 percent.

Apple did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Symbol

Price

Change

%Change

ADI

87.65

-0.35

-0.40%

QCOM

49.94

-0.59

-1.17%

SWKS

87.77

-0.87

-0.98%

2330

226.00

-1.00

-0.44%

AAPL

162.94

-2.30

-1.39%
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Apple Reveals Qualcomm Patent Fees
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2019-01-14 00:00 reading：1204
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European chip stocks tumbled on Thursday after Apple cut its first-quarter revenue guidance citing weaker-than-expected iPhone sales and slowing economic growth in China.Austrian chipmaker AMS nosedived 19 percent while Swiss firm STMicroelectronics dropped around 7 percent. Both companies are semiconductor suppliers for Apple devices.Shares of Anglo-German chip supplier Dialog Semiconductors plunged 7 percent at the open in Frankfurt. In October, Apple agreed to buy a portion of Dialog's business in a $600 million deal.Other chip stocks including Dutch firm ASM International and Germany-based Siltronic also fell at the open amid pressure in the semiconductor industry. The broader European Stoxx 600 tech index was the worst performing sector in Europe on Thursday, trading down around 2 percent.The moves in Europe followed losses in Asia's tech sector among Apple suppliers.Apple CEO Tim Cook issued a letter to investors Wednesday lowering the iPhone maker's fiscal first quarter revenue guidance to $84 billion, down from a previous range of $89 billion to $93 billion.In an interview with CNBC's Josh Lipton on Wednesday, Cook said trade tensions between the U.S. and China were one factor weighing on the tech giant's outlook.Apple shares traded down roughly 7 percent in extended hours on Thursday. Several Apple suppliers have cut their outlook in recent months citing weak demand.
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