STMicro sees 33 per cent profit jump

Healthy demand for chips for mobile devices has powered a 33 per cent increase in profit for STMicroelectronics. For its third quarter, ending 2 October, Europe's number two chip maker saw profit up to $135.3 million, from $101.6 million for last year's Q3. Sales for the period were up 23 per cent to $1.27 billion, against last year's figure of $1.03 billion for the equivalent. Taking the first nine months of the year, net profit was up 25.4 per cent to $363 million, on sales of $3.6 billion - up 16 per cent. From mobile phones to set-top boxes and beyond, demand for STMicro's chips shows no sign of flagging. The company is investing $3.18 billion to boost capacity in order to keep on top of this rising demand. Last month, the company raised around $925 million from a share issue which reduced the stake held in it by the governments of Italy and France. STMIcro's fabs in northern Italy and southern France are being equipped to ramp up work on flash memory products and should be producing 1000 wafers per week by early next year. ®