Chipmaker Qualcomm has reported a 56% decline in net profit to $341m for the first quarter 2009, compared to $767m in the year-ago quarter, on revenue up 3% at $2.52 billion. The decline in profit was attributed to financial investments and weakening demand for cell phone chips.

Operating income fell 2% to $745m, while diluted EPS declined 57% to $0.20. EBITDA declined 52% to $451m compared to $930m in the year-ago quarter.

QCT revenue declined 15% to $1.33 billion, QTL revenue rose 55% to $1.01 billion, and QWI revenue declined 19% to $170m. Equipment and services revenue grew 16% to $1.42 billion, while licensing and royalty fees rose 48% to $1.1 billion. R&D expenses increased 11% to $604m.

Paul E Jacobs, chief executive at Qualcomm, said: “The reduced visibility in the marketplace makes forecasting future inventory levels more difficult. While our operating performance was strong, the distress in the global financial markets continued, resulting in additional impairments of our marketable securities portfolio.”

For the second quarter it expects revenue between $2.25 billion and $2.45 billion and cut its full-year revenue outlook to $9.3 billion to $9.8 billion from the earlier $10.2 billion to $10.8 billion.

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