(April 29): NXP Semiconductors NV jumped as much as 17% in premarket trading after giving an upbeat revenue forecast, a sign the chipmaker is bouncing back from a prolonged auto industry slump and tariff uncertainties.
Revenue in the second quarter will be US$3.35 billion to US$3.55 billion, the Dutch company said in a statement on Tuesday. This beats the average analyst estimate of US$3.27 billion, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
“The momentum we have built is expected to accelerate through the remainder of 2026,” Chief executive officer Rafael Sotomayor said in the statement.
NXP shares soared in extended trading after the report was released. They had closed 2.7% lower in New York on Tuesday at US$230.39 and are up 6.1% this year.
Analog chipmakers such as NXP are slowly emerging from a two-year slump in demand. Customers have largely worked through high inventories they’d built up after a chip shortage during the Covid-19 pandemic. NXP supplies components to the automotive industry, which makes up more than half the company’s revenue.
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NXP said its adjusted gross margin for the current quarter will be 57.5% to 58.5%. Analysts projected 57.6%.
Revenue in the first quarter rose 12% to US$3.18 billion, the company said. That compared with an average analyst estimate of US$3.15 billion.
Last week, peers Texas Instruments Inc and STMicroelectronics NV also reported better-than-expected numbers, helped by booming spending on data centres in the global artificial intelligence (AI) race. Analog chips convert real-world inputs into electronic signals and are used in a wide range of devices.
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Demand “appears to be improving on all industrial fronts while auto is hanging in better than feared,” TD Cowen analysts including Joshua Buchalter wrote in a reaction to NXP’s earnings. “It seems the revenue engine of the company is finally reigniting.”
NXP said that the auto industry’s move to software-defined vehicles, which rely on more advanced processors, is boosting demand from major carmakers even as global auto sales declined in some markets in the first quarter. The company is also poised to benefit from a move to EVs, which jumped enough to drive up overall car sales in Europe last quarter.
For the first time and in a surprise to analysts, NXP disclosed income it is making from data centres.
The segment will rise from US$200 million in 2025 to more than US$500 million in 2026, CEO Sotomayor said in a call with analysts after earnings.
NXP is focused on the “control plane” of the data centre — the embedded systems that optimise data flow, cooling, and energy use. NXP has ramped up its business in the space with 20 to 25 products that can be used in data centres, Sotomayor said, and he expects the addressable market to grow about 10% to 11% per year.
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