SGS-Thomson Microelectronics NV blamed the difficult environment in the semiconductor industry for a relatively flat first quarter, but reckoned, given the market conditions, it had done well to have achieved the same as last year. The company saw profits down fractionally at $90.2m, while revenue rose 6.4% to $1.005bn. Pasquale Pistorio, the company’s president and chief executive, said there continues to be excess capacity in the industry, and the weakness of parts of the Asian economy made conditions even more difficult in the year. He said all product groups had seen revenue gains year on year, apart from memory products. He projected that the industry over-capacity should come to an end some time in the second half of this year, and said he expects that 1998 should be a year of progressive financial and operating improvements for SGS-Thomson.
