DALLAS-Texas Instruments signaled the chip industry’s assured return to good times with a net profit of $512 million, or 29 cents per share, in the fourth quarter. This trumps the company’s result of the same quarter last year when it suffered a loss of $589 million, or 34 cents per share.
The earnings picture also benefited from TI’s sale of Micron technology and reduced taxes.
The chipmaker, however, expects first-quarter revenue to slide to $2.72 billion, with earnings between 16 cents and 22 cents per share.
TI earned $1.2 billion for the 2003 fiscal year, or 68 cents per share, compared with a loss of $344 million, or 20 cents per share in 2002. Its revenue jumped 17 percent for the year to $9.83 billion from $8.38 billion.
