Loss Grows at AMD, Shrinks at Broadcom

No. 2 computer chip maker Advanced Micro Devices Inc. posted a wider first-quarter loss Wednesday but showed incremental growth from the previous quarter.

AMD’s net loss for the quarter was $146 million, or 42 cents a share, compared with a loss of $9.16 million, or 3 cents, a year earlier. Sales declined 20% to $715 million.

Shares of the Sunnyvale, Calif., firm slid as low as $7.27 in after-hours trading following the earnings report. They rose 30 cents to $7.90 in regular trading on the New York Stock Exchange.

AMD said it increased revenue sequentially by 4% in a quarter that is typically down seasonally, probably gaining share in both the PC processor and cell phone flash memory markets.

Broadcom Corp., the world’s biggest maker of cable-modem chips, reported a narrower loss for its first quarter Wednesday as sales rose 37%.

The loss, Broadcom’s 11th straight, was $68 million, or 25 cents a share, compared with $166 million, or 63 cents, in the year-earlier period, the firm said.

Broadcom’s sales climbed to $327.5 million, their highest level in more than two years.

Excluding acquisition-related costs, stock-compensation expenses and certain other costs, Broadcom said it would have had a quarterly profit of $17 million, or 6 cents a share, compared with a loss of $21.9 million, or 8 cents, in the year-earlier period. It was Broadcom’s first profit on that basis in two years.

Shares in the Irvine-based communications chip maker jumped about 9% to $15.26 in extended trading after the report. They rose 22 cents to $14.05 in regular Nasdaq trading.

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Reuters and Bloomberg News were used in compiling this report.