Texas Instruments boosts Q2 profit guidance range

NEW YORK -- Chipmaker Texas Instruments raised expectations for its second-quarter profit and revenue on Monday, sending its shares higher in after-hours trading and signaling that demand may be improving for the battered semiconductor industry.

Dallas-based Texas Instruments now expects a profit in a range of 14 cents to 22 cents a share for the current quarter. Revenue is expected to be between $2.3 billion and $2.5 billion.

Analysts, on average, are expecting a profit of 10 cents a share on sales of $2.21 billion, according to a poll by Thomson Reuters.

In April, the company forecast a second-quarter profit of 1 cent to 15 cents a share. The company's previous revenue estimate was between $1.95 billion and $2.4 billion.

In a conference call with analysts, Ron Slaymaker, Texas Instruments' head of investor relations, said the company's analog segment is "by far the biggest driver of sequential growth this quarter, although all major product lines are growing."

Texas Instruments makes cellphone chips, as well as analog chips used in digital music players and other gadgets, and embedded chips used in automobiles. The recession has dampened demand for semiconductors.

The company's shares rose more than 4% in after-hours trading.