Toshiba Corp. Boosts Chip Profit Forecast

Electronic News, August 28, 2000

TOSHIBA CORP. OF TOKYO last week said it was boosting its consolidated operating profit forecast for its semiconductor business to $1.2 billion, up from $599 million for the year ending next March. Citing reasons for the revision, Toshiba said it was facing growing demand in information and communication systems, cell phones and that PC peripheral equipment continues to enjoy positive growth, inline with growing demand for IT-related products since the latter half of fiscal year 1999.

The Japanese fiscal year runs from April through March. Like fellow Japanese giants NEC Corp., Hitachi Ltd., Mitsubishi Electric Corp. and Fujitsu Ltd., Toshiba suffered heavily in 1998 and 1999 when commodity DRAM prices fell though the floor. Now Toshiba says it forecasts $108 billion yen in sales, up $1 billion from the company's earlier estimate. Toshiba raised its consolidated net profit estimate for the year to $1.2 billion from an initial estimate of $920 million and against a $258 million net loss last year.