MediaTek has announced it will expect a 20% drop in revenue in the first quarter of 2018, describing the current smartphone market in China as “sluggish”.
The company projected first-quarter revenue of NT$48.3 billion and NT$53.2 billion ($1.65 billion and $1.82 billion), a decline of 13.8% from the same quarter in 2017 and down 12% to 20% from the fourth quarter of 2017. The company’s gross margin is predicted to be 35.5% to 38.5% for the first quarter of 2018.
During the full calendar year of 2017, MediaTek saw revenue of NT$238.21 billion ($8.1 billion), down 13.5% year-on-year. Net profit for the year grew by 0.2% from 2016 to NT$24.07 billion ($822 million). In the fourth quarter of 2017, the company’s sales dropped 12% to NT$60.4 billion ($2.1 billion), while its net income nearly doubled, rising to NT$10.16 billion ($347 million).
Aaron Jeng, an analyst with Nomura Securities in Taipei, has predicted a “very weak” start for MediaTek in the first quarter of the year, but also a strong resurgence from the second.
