Toshiba, Japan's biggest chipmaker, said its semiconductor operations sprang back to a quarterly profit on cost cuts and more stable prices, but it warned of a possible dip in demand ahead.
Toshiba, the world's second biggest maker of NAND flash memory after Samsung Electronics, is eyeing stronger demand for the chips used in Apple's iPhone, and for its system chips, used in Sony's PlayStation3 game console.
But the company, which entered a long-term chip supply deal with Apple in July, kept its forecast for its electronic devices segment, which includes semiconductors, at a 60 billion yen ($658 million) loss in the year to March.
Toshiba, which is slowly shifting its focus away from volatile chips to stabler revenues in its power systems business, also maintained its forecast for a 150 billion yen profit in its social infrastructure segment.
The owner of US nuclear firm Westinghouse is hurrying to cut $3 billion in costs as it seeks to shore up its power systems operations, bidding for French nuclear group Areva's power transmission unit and also building a new lithium-ion battery plant.
The company kept its forecast for a 100 billion yen operating profit for the full year to next March.
Toshiba, which raised $5 billion earlier this year, reported its first operating profit in four quarters of 40.3 billion yen, up from 4.4 billion yen a year earlier, with its microchip operations swinging to a profit.
Toshiba said earlier this week it expected to make an operating profit of 39.6 billion yen, ahead of forecasts thanks to faster results from cost-cutting programmes.
Shares in Toshiba closed up 3.7 per cent ahead of the announcement, outperforming a 2.1 per cent rise in Tokyo's electrical machinery sub-index. Its shares, bolstered by its capital raise, gained 35 per cent in July-September, outpacing a 6 per cent rise in the index.
Reuters