Onsemi is “fully cognizant of potential risks” from inflation, higher interest rates and the “ongoing geopolitical tensions,” and it's "monitoring the business environment diligently,” said CEO Hassane El-Khoury on an earnings call Monday for fiscal Q1 ended April 1.
Immersive feature films “will always be the straw that stirs the drink for Imax," said CEO Rich Gelfond on a Q1 earnings call Thursday. A “blockbuster pipeline” of movies for 2022, beginning with the release in May of Doctor Strange and Top Gun: Maverick, is “a significant opportunity to further drive box office revenue and capture market share,” he said. “In my 28 years with the company, this is one of the best blockbusters slates I've ever seen.” Streaming services face intensifying competitive pressures and “renewed questions around the economic model for the streaming business, which could provide a tailwind for theatrical releases,” said Gelfond. “We've long held that as the virus is brought under control, and people felt increasingly safe, consumers would be drawn back to communal out-of-home entertainment experiences,” including moviegoing, he said, citing the box office success of Spider-Man: No Way Home and The Batman.
Western Digital reached a tentative settlement with the IRS to resolve “a long-running tax matter” involving the fiscal years 2008 through 2015, said CEO David Goeckeler on an earnings call Thursday for fiscal Q3 ended April 1. The settlement is expected to result in a “previously unforecasted” cash payment to the government of between $500 million and $600 million during the fiscal year ending July 2023, he said. WD’s consumer business is experiencing “short-term demand weakness” outside the U.S. tied to the “geopolitical events in Europe,” plus the COVID-19 lockdowns in China, Goeckeler said. “However, we are confident in the strength of the business as we are entering a seasonally stronger second half of the calendar year with a number of new innovative products.” In mobile, WD has a “strong position in 5G phones,” he said. “We see demand for the latest 5G flagship phones remaining solid, with NAND content doubling from prior-generation smartphones.” Demand from gaming and virtual- and augmented-reality devices “remains robust,” he said. Industry analysts expect VR headset sales to rise at a 47% compound annual growth rate “over the next couple of years.” he said.
Lockdowns in Shanghai and the war in Ukraine demonstrate “that the world needs more resilient and more geographically balanced semiconductor manufacturing,” said Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger on an earnings call Thursday for fiscal Q1 ended April 2. The chip shortage cost the U.S. economy $240 billion last year, “and we expect the industry will continue to see challenges until at least 2024 in areas like foundry capacity and tool availability,” he said.
Vizio Chairman-CEO William Wang drew $32.15 million in total 2021 compensation, and his base salary more than doubled from 2020 to $956,250, said a definitive proxy statement Thursday for Vizio’s June 9 annual meeting, to be held virtually beginning at 10 a.m. PDT. Stock awards totaling nearly $28 million made up the bulk of Wang’s 2021 pay, after he received no such awards in 2020 or 2019, said the proxy. His 2021 bonus shrank to $775,000 from $1.68 million in 2020, it said. Vizio went public in March 2021 as a “controlled company” under New York Stock Exchange rules that apply when a single person or entity owns more than 50% of the voting power of all common shares (see 2103010043). Wang controlled 87% of Vizio’s total voting power as of March 31, said the proxy.
“Continued traction” with top smartphone OEMs Samsung, Xiaomi, Oppo, Vivo and Honor drove Qualcomm’s handset revenue 56% higher to $6.3 billion in fiscal Q2 ended March 27, said CEO Cristiano Amon on an earnings call Wednesday. The stock closed 9.7%% higher Thursday at $148.19.
Nanosys is partnering with China’s Bready, a developer of advanced materials, to launch the world’s first barrier-free laminated quantum dot film components under the Nanosys xQDEF trademark, said the companies Thursday. Laminate renders QD’s color and brightness performance, but in a new, lower-cost package, expanding the market for QD TVs, they said. Hisense, TCL and Vizio are expected to launch display products based on the new components in second-half 2022, they said. Eliminating costly barrier films gives display makers extended flexibility in white point and color gamut tuning while maintaining full manufacturing compatibility with QDEF TVs, they said. Nanosys positioned xQDEF last year as enabling lower-cost QD backlights in new form factors without sacrificing QDEF’s efficiency or color performance (see 2012300003).
IFA 2022 is “going ahead” as scheduled Sept. 2-6 at the Messe Berlin fairgrounds as a “full-size” show for the first time since 2019, and it will be a “hands-on, on-location event without compromise,” IFA Executive Director Jens Heithecker told a digital news briefing Wednesday. IFA 2022 won’t have a COVID-19 vaccination mandate, said Heithecker in a follow-up Q&A.
Microsoft expects $14.65 billion to $14.95 billion in revenue for fiscal Q4 ending June 30, which at the high end of the guidance would mean about a 3% sequential increase from fiscal Q3, said Chief Financial Officer Amy Hood on a Tuesday earnings call. “Our guidance reflects the current constraints from the shutdowns in China, which have negatively impacted Q4 supply” of Surface laptops and Xbox consoles, she said. “Extended production shutdowns that reach into May would further negatively impact our outlook.” Microsoft estimates it will take about a $110 million Q4 revenue hit from the war in Ukraine, said the CFO.
Texas Instruments expects to report Q2 revenue in the $4.2 billion to $4.8 billion range, which at the high end of the guidance would be flat to slightly down from Q1, said Chief Financial Officer Rafael Lizardi on a Tuesday earnings call. “This outlook comprehends an impact due to reduced demand from COVID-19 restrictions in China, which are affecting our customers' manufacturing operations,” he said. TI’s assessment in early April “indicated that revenue would continue to incrementally grow again in the second quarter,” said Head-Investor Relations Dave Pahl. “However, it just became clear that we were experiencing lower demand, particularly due to COVID-19 restrictions in China.” Taking a “top-down assessment” of the likely impact, TI reduced the midpoint of its Q2 guidance by 10%, he said. “The second thing we did was we slightly widened the range just to comprehend the higher uncertainty that we're seeing overall.”