Texas Instruments blames earthquake for earnings dip

Texas Instruments has said the Japan earthquake damaged two of its factories, hurt demand in the country and cut into its earnings.

The chipmaker, which recently said it would buy National Semiconductor, reported first-quarter earnings of $666m (£409.9m), or 55 cents a share, on revenue of $3.39bn. Wall Street analysts were looking for earnings of 58 cents a share on revenue of $3.39bn.

Texas Instruments (TI) said that earthquake-related expenses in Japan shaved about 2 cents a share off its operating profit. "The Japan earthquake that's taken such a heartbreaking human toll in the country also disrupted local demand starting in mid-March and impaired operations at two of our factories there," said chief executive Rich Templeton in a statement.

For more on this ZDNet UK-selected story, see TI: Japan earthquake hurt earnings, outlook on ZDNet.com.