Micron Sees Weak Market as Memory Chip sales Slowdown
U.S. memory chip maker Micron Technology gave a forecast that fell short of estimates, adding to concern that a two-year surge in demand for its products is over.
Micron's sales for the quarter ended Nov. 30 totaled $7.91 billion, up 16% year-over-year but down 5% from the previous quarter. The company's quarterly net income totaled $3.29 billion, up 23% from the year-ago quarter but down 24% compared to the previous quarter.
For the current quarter, Micron expects sales to fall to between $5.7 billion to $6.3 billion.
Micron also cut its full-year spending plans by about $1.25 billion and pledged to reduce production of chips used in everything from cars to smartphones to data centers as a result of weaker-than-expected demand from customers.
The company said it expects revenue to decline significant in the current quarter due to "weak near-term supply-demand dynamics."
Sanjay Mehrotra, Micron's president and CEO, told analysts on a conference call following the quarterly report that the downbeat forecast is primarily related to a glut of inventory in the supply chain.
"We're just going through an air pocket here related to primarily inventory adjustments as well as some seasonal, weak mobile demand — including mobile demand in high-end smartphones — that is impacting some of our near-term visibility as well as the near-term outlook," Mehrota said.
While Micron is implementing some cost control measures such as cutting back on capital spending, Mehotra said, he expects 2019 to be a profitable year for the company.