Semis Take a Hit After TI Warns of Handset Weakness

While there were no surprises in the overall picture from Texas Instruments (TXN) late yesterday on the company’s mid-quarter update, trouble lurks in the details.

On the company’s conference call with analysts yesterday afternoon, Texas Instruments VP Ron Slaymaker noted that the company is seeing “unseasonably weak” wireless handset revenue in the quarter. He expects second quarter sales in the sector to be down a bit from the first quarter level. He also said sales of RISC processors are “running weak this quarter.”

Slaymaker says the company is seeing some strength in 3G, but weakness in “legacy technologies.”

TXN shares, more or less flat in after-hours trading yesterdat, have slipped 85 cents, or 2.71%, to $30.48 by late afternoon. A variety of other handset-related chipmakers are suffering steeper losses today:

• RF Micro (RFMD) is down 17 cents, or 4.45%, to $3.65.
• Broadcom (BRCM) is down $1.27, or 4.58% to $26.43.
• Marvell (MRVL) is down 87 cents, or 5.12%, to $16.11.
• ON Semi (ONNN) is down 44 cents, or 4.58%, to $9.17.
• Skyworks (SWKS) is down 42 cents, or 3.75%, to $10.78.