Jan 25 Reuters European chipmaker STMicroelectronics on Thursday forecast an over 15 drop in firstquarter revenue, after its sales missed estimates in the fourth quarter on softer automotive growth and a further decline in orders from the industrial sector.

Orders from the automotive industry have been helping chipmakers offset the impact from U.S.China trade spats and sluggish demand for personal electronics.

In Q4, our customer order bookings decreased compared to Q3. We continued to see stable enddemand in Automotive, no significant increase in Personal Electronics, and further deterioration in Industrial, CEO JeanMarc Chery said in a statement.

Fourthquarter net revenue came in at 4.28 billion, below analysts39; average estimate of 4.30 billion in an LSEG poll.

Quarterly operating income fell 20.5 to 1.02 billion.

The company, whose clients include Tesla and Apple, expects to post firstquarter revenue of 3.6 billion, compared to 4.25 billion a year earlier.

In 2024, the Schiphol, Netherlandsbased company plans to invest about 2.5 billion in net capital expenditure, and targets fullyear revenue in a range of 15.9 billion to 16.9 billion.

Reporting by Michal Aleksandrowicz in Gdansk; editing by Milla Nissi

Source Reuters