Toshiba eyes a rebound due to its iPhone chip
Japan’s leading chip maker Toshiba said yesterday it expects a 45 per cent jump in profits this year, boosted by robust demand for its flash memory chips used in blockbuster Apple iPhones.
The industrial electronics conglomerate, which makes everything from light bulbs to nuclear reactors, expects the electronic devices division that makes its NAND flash memory chips to grow operating profits by 33 per cent.
It hopes that a strong performance from the NAND chips – which are used in iPhones, other smartphones and tablet computers – will offset weakness at is television unit, which has suffered from a slump in demand.
Toshiba forecast an annual operating profit of ¥300bn (£2.33bn), above the mean estimate of ¥281.9bn from a poll of 22 analysts.
For the year that ended 31 March, Toshiba logged an operating profit of ¥206.65bn, down 14 per cent from the previous year, squeezed by weak domestic TV sales and a global economic slowdown.
“Demand for LCD television fell off sharply in domestic markets,” said corporate executive vice president Makoto Kubo.
Kubo said earnings had also suffered due to the devastating March 2011 earthquake and tsunami in northeastern Japan and floods in Thailand last year that severely disrupted supply chains.
Sector rivals are also due to announce their earnings later this week, with Sony reporting results tomorrow and Panasonic to do so on Friday.