GlobalFoundries forecasts Q2 revenue, profit above estimates on chip market recovery

(Reuters) - GlobalFoundries forecast second-quarter revenue above Wall Street estimates on Tuesday, betting on improving demand for semiconductors after a years-long slump that was caused by surplus inventory at its customers.

Shares of the contract chipmaker rose 4.2% before the bell.

The upbeat forecast is the latest positive sign for the industry after earnings of chip firms including NXP Semiconductors and Texas Instruments showed that demand was picking up, aided by orders from the industrial sector.

"Pockets of the semiconductor industry" have started to emerge from inventory corrections, GlobalFoundries CEO Thomas Caulfield said in a statement.

The company expects revenue in the current quarter to be between $1.59 billion and $1.64 billion, the midpoint of which was higher than the LSEG estimates of $1.59 billion.

Its adjusted earnings per share forecast in the range of 24 cents to 34 cents for the second quarter was also above analysts' view of 27 cents.

GlobalFoundries — the world's third-largest contract chipmaker — had won $1.5 billion in subsidies from the U.S. government earlier this year, which it plans to use for the construction of a new semiconductor production facility in Malta, New York and expand existing operations there and in Burlington, Vermont.

For the first quarter, the company reported revenue of $1.55 billion, which was higher than expectations of $1.52 billion. Its adjusted profit per share of 31 cents also beat estimates.

(Reporting by Aditya Soni in Bengaluru; Editing by Shilpi Majumdar)