ST Microelectronics sailed through its first $2 billion quarter, on the back what it modestly claims was the successful execution of its "differentiated products" strategy.

No we don't know what this means either - althought we think it's referring to embeds/ smart cards and the like designed for vertical or "end" markets. This represents more than 60 per cent of the company's turnover. We suppose the company is hinting that this emphasis on vertical sectors, shields it from the vagaries (some of them, anyway) of the mass, or undifferentiated, semiconductor market - CPUs, DRAM, flash memory and the like.

Anyroads, the strategy is paying dividends for ST Microelectronics - the company produced net income of $415mn for the Q, up more than 200 per higher than the same period last year, and a hefty net income margin of 20.3 per cent. Sales were $2.04bn. ®