Chip equipment maker Veeco Instruments has posted a second-quarter profit that surpassed Wall Street expectations, helped by strong LED and solar orders, and forecast a strong third quarter.

Nokia's smartphones outsold the iPhone by 8.4 times. The Finnish company sold 14.5 million smartphones that quarter. And remember, that was only a fraction of their total mobile phone sales...

Xilinx has announced first quarter fiscal 2011 sales of US$594.7 million, up 12% sequentially and 58% on year. Net profits for the quarter reached US$158.6 million, compared to profits of US$148.5 million in the prior quarter and US$38 million a year ago.

Programmable logic vendor Altera set a new all-time high in quarterly sales in the second quarter of 2010. It also beat consensus analyst expectations for sales and net income during the quarter.

Nokia, which is losing market share in high-end smartphones as it struggles to finish the flagship N8 device, has seen two-thirds of its market value wiped out since Apple's 2007 introduction of the iPhone. The company may name a new CEO to replace Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo as early as this month, the Wall Street Journal reported yesterday.

Sony Ericsson posted its second consecutive quarterly profit Friday as strong sales of newly launched mobile phones in the second quarter helped reverse heavy year-earlier losses.

Novellus Systems posted quarterly results above expectations, helped by a surge in bookings and shipments. The chip-gear maker has reported net profits of US$63.3 million for the second quarter compared with losses of US$50 million a year ago.

BlackBerry maker Research In Motion on Thursday posted a 20% increase in first-quarter profit, but sales and handset shipments fell below Wall Street's forecast.

TI now expects profits of US$0.60-0.64 per share in the current quarter. Revenue should be US$3.45-3.59 billion.

The company will "definitely go into" China with a Taiwanese chipmaker by as early as 2012 and seek support from the China government, said Elpida's president Yukio Sakamoto in an interview. It is also accelerating plans to add a second manufacturing plant at Rexchip Electronics.

Spansion has reported net profits of US$3.7 million for the first quarter, a return to profitability from net losses of US$512.6 million in the same quarter of 2009.

Infineon Technologies has raised its 2010 outlook for a second time this year on higher demand from automotive and industrial customers for chip cards and security applications. The chipmaker's fiscal second-quarter net income was 79 million euros (US$104.2 million) compared with net lossES of 239 million euros a year earlier.

Net income for the first quarter of 2010 was US$27.5 million, compared to net losses of US$51.1 million a year ago. "We were pleased with the successful ramp into high volume of new technologies such as embedded wafer-level ball-grid array (eWLB) and the continued growth of our business in advanced technologies such as hybrid flip-chip and wafer level packaging..."

STMicroelectronics, Europe's largest semiconductor company, swung to profits of US$57 million in the first quarter of 2010 from losses of US$541 million a year ago. First-quarter revenues rose 40% to US$2.32 billion, led particularly by demand for chips used in cars and computers.

Rambus has net profits of US$150.9 million for the first quarter, compared with losses of US$17.4 million in the same quarter last year. Revenues for the quarter soared 492% to US$161.9 million, thanks to a licensing agreement with Samsung.

Hitachi Global Storage Technologies is poised to secure net profits for the fiscal year ended December 21, 2010, according to company president and CEO Steve Milligan. Brisk demand for PC hard drives and fixed-cost reductions will contribute to its profit outlook.

Qualcomm has reported profits of US$774 million for the second quarter of its fiscal 2010, compared with losses of US$289 million a year ago. The company suggested it might fall short of Wall Street's expectations for the current quarter.

Altera has reported net profits of US$153.2 million for the irst quarter, compared with profits of US$44.0 million a year earlier. "We are benefiting from growth in our 65nm and 40nm FPGAs as customer designs transition from prototyping into production," said company CEO John Daane.

Chip equipment maker Novellus Systems now expects to earn US$0.43 per share, US$0.04 above the high end of the range it had forecast in March. The company is scheduled to report first-quarter earnings on April 21.

Fujitsu has outsourced production to TSMC and shut three production lines last year to help save 80 billion yen in the two years to March 2011.

Samsung Electronics has estimated first-quarter operating profits at 4.1-4.5 trillion won (US$4 billion), which might top its record of 4.2 trillion won for the third quarter of 2009. Samsung will explain the strong first quarter performance when it releases results at the end of this month.

Research in Motion posted a fiscal fourth-quarter profit and revenue that missed Wall Street expectations, but the BlackBerry maker's forecast for the current quarter easily topped analysts' estimates.

Smart Modular Technologies has reported a profit for the fiscal second quarter as improved customer demand and higher pricing lifted revenues by nearly half.

Samsung Electronics, Asia's biggest maker of chips, flat screens and mobile phones, has said it aims to post higher operating profit this year than in 2009.

Elpida Memory is expected to return to the black with an operating profit of almost 20 billion yen (US$222 million) for the year ending this month, buoyed by a recovery in DRAM chip prices, according to the Nikkei business daily.

BYD, a Chinese car and battery maker backed by US billionaire Warren Buffett, said on Sunday its fourth-quarter net profit rose 500% thanks to robust car sales primed by tax incentives from Beijing.

The strong start prompted Applied Materials to brighten its outlook for the fiscal 2010. The company expects its sales to increase by more than 50%, up from its previous forecast of a 30% gain.

First Solar has posted a higher-than-expected profit, but its shares fell as its outlook disappointed and profit margins narrowed.

Sharp's solar business is on track to turn its first annual profit as the company looks to expand production and forge partnerships with corporations worldwide to expand the use of solar power generation.

SanDisk beat analysts' estimates as sales for memory cards for mobile phones, digital cameras, USB flash drives and other electronics climbed 22% from the third quarter to the fourth quarter.