Altera, Lattice Semi raise Q1 sales targets

SAN FRANCISCO—Programmable logic vendors Altera Corp. and Lattice Semiconductor Corp. increased their first quarter sales targets Wednesday (March 3), citing better-than-expected growth across a broad range of products and market segments.

Altera (San Jose, Calif.) said it now expects first quarter revenue to be between $390.6 million and $401.5 million, an increase of 7 to 10 percent compared with the fourth quarter of 2009. The company had previously said it expected sales to increase 5 to 10 percent sequentially.

Altera said it expects solid growth from new products in the first quarter and that all four of its vertical market segments are likely to report sequential improvements. Growth continues in the telecom and wireless market segment as communications equipment manufacturers respond to ongoing Asian demand, Altera said.

Lattice (Hillsboro, Ore.) said it now expects to report first quarter revenue of between $66.7 million and $68.9 million, a jump of 21 to 25 percent compared to the fourth quarter of 2009. Lattice had previously said it expected revenue to be up 8 to 12 percent sequentially.

The sales target revision is based on "robust growth across all product lines and continued strength in the company's order bookings throughout the quarter," Lattice said. The company continues to expect to turn a profit in the quarter.