Tech titan: Broadcom’s office in San Jose, California. The company’s shares surged 24% last Friday to US$224.80. — AFP
SAN FRANCISCO: Broadcom Inc, a chip supplier for Apple Inc and other big tech companies, surged to a US$1 trillion market valuation for the first time after predicting a boom in demand for its artificial intelligence (AI) chips.
Sales of AI products will gain 65% in the financial first quarter, far faster than its overall semiconductor growth of about 10%, the company said during a post-earnings conference call.
The chipmaker also predicted that the addressable market for AI components that it designs for data centre operators would reach as high as US$90bil by 2027.
Like Nvidia Corp, Broadcom is positioning itself to be a major beneficiary of the AI spending frenzy.
And chief executive officer Hock Tan said his company had won two major new hyperscaler customers – the biggest operators of data centres.
The stock rose 24% to US$224.80 in New York last Friday, its biggest one-day rally since August 2009 – the month when precursor company Avago Technologies Ltd held its initial public offering.
That business merged with Broadcom Corp in 2016 to form the current company.
Investors have piled into Broadcom’s stock this year, lured by AI optimism.
The Palo Alto, California-based company had predicted that it would get more than US$10bil in annual revenue from that market, outpacing other parts of its business.
Ultimately, the number reached US$12.2bil in the last financial year.
AI revenue grew 220% during the year, fuelled by demand for processors and networking components, Tan said.
Demand for non-AI chips, meanwhile, will be down in the first quarter. Total sales will be US$14.6bil in the period, which runs through January, in line with estimates.
Tan has assembled one of the most valuable companies in the chip industry through a string of acquisitions.
He also has built a software unit that’s approaching the scale of its semiconductor operations.
That reach makes the company’s forecasts a bellwether for demand over a broad swath of the technology industry.
Profit was US$1.42 a share in the fourth quarter, excluding some items, the company said.
Revenue rose to nearly US$14.1bil in the period, which ended Nov 3.
Analysts had estimated US$1.39 a share in earnings and revenue of US$14.1bil on average, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
Data centre providers rely on Broadcom’s custom-chip design and networking semiconductors to build their AI systems.
The company also sells components for cars, smartphones and Internet access gear.
Its push into software, meanwhile, includes products for mainframe computers, cybersecurity and data centre optimisation.
Broadcom’s semiconductor division had revenue of US$8.23bil in the fourth quarter, up 12%.
Software sales grew nearly 200% to US$5.82bil.
The company is much larger than it was a year ago, partly because of its acquisition of VMware Inc, which it bought for roughly US$69bil.
Prior to the report, analysts raised concerns that Broadcom’s chip-design business was suffering from weaker demand.
They cited the slower introduction of a new version of a Broadcom processor for Alphabet Inc.
Apple is a top customer of Broadcom, which provides components for the iPhone.
During earnings calls, Tan typically gives updates on Broadcom’s often-contentious relationship with that company, which he refers to as his “large North American customer” or another vague term.
Bloomberg News reported earlier that Apple would start switching away from a key Broadcom wireless chip starting next year.
The iPhone maker has been replacing suppliers’ components with in-house versions, a trend that’s also set to hit chipmaker Qualcomm Inc.
Tan said during the call that Broadcom continued to be highly engaged with Apple on multiyear road maps for various technologies. He also said that Broadcom remained open to acquisitions.
“That has been a core part of our strategy and business model of this company for the last 10 years,” he said. — Bloomberg
