Altera raises quarterly sales forecast

NEW YORK, USA: Programmable chip maker Altera Corp said on Tuesday it was raising its quarterly revenue growth forecast to between 10 percent and 14 percent sequentially due to expansion across its main markets.

The company, which along with competitor Xilinx Inc dominates the programmable logic chips market, had previously estimated third-quarter sales would expand between 4 percent and 8 percent over the prior quarter.

"The telecom and wireless vertical market is on track to be the fastest growing portion of the business, driven in large part by 3G wireless deployments and needs for additional wireless backhaul capacity," Altera said in a statement.

Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S on average had expected Altera, which makes chips used in cars, medical devices and radar, to increase its third-quarter revenue by 6 percent from the prior quarter.

Altera's shares rose almost 4 percent and Xilinx gained 1.7 percent after the close of trading on Nasdaq.

In the second quarter, Altera posted revenue of $469 million, and it is expected to report third-quarter results on October 19.