Microchip profits soar as iPod and mobile sales boom

Can’t really say that this news of higher profits for processor companies is all that shocking. After all, the gadget market has single handedly sought to use most of these chips that are in demand.

Consumers’ apparently insatiable demand for gadgets, especially digital music players such as the iPod and mobile phones, yesterday helped two of the UK’s leading designers of microchips - CSR and Wolfson Microelectronics - report a more than doubling of half-year profits.

CSR specialises in the short-range Bluetooth wireless technology, used in gadgets from mobile phones to hands-free headsets. It counts Nokia among its major customers, as well as being the only supplier for Apple laptops. The company yesterday reported a 128% increase in first-half profits to $69m (£37m) as turnover hit $317m, up 97% on the previous year…. The Guardian Unlimited