VIA April sales down

VIA's sales in April were US$59m, 12 per cent down on March and 36.57 per cent down on April ($92,698m)last year.

For the first four months of this year, sales were US $270.355m, 31 per cent down on the same period in 2001 ($391.259m). According to VIA, the April sales figures

'largely exceeded' market expectations. But that's not saying much.

More meaningfully, VIA shows it can continue to make a profit, at a time of falling sales. For Q1, 2001, (i.e January through March) the company maintained a gross margin of 40.1 per cent, the best in five quarters and net profits of $30.9m on sales of US$210.3m.

The Taiwanese firm currently derives 50 per cent of its turnover from chipsets. It faces increased competition, most notably from SiS, and roadblocks for P$ business, because of the threat of Intel litigation hanging over its head.

VIA is busy extending business lines to less reliance on chipsets. Yesterday, the company took a step into semiconductor design for mobile phones and PDAs, by buying the San Diego-based CDMA standards product Design Center from LSI Logic.

News source: The Register - VIA April sales down