By Jaspreet Singh
(Reuters) -U.S. chipmaker Texas Instruments said on Thursday demand cooled after a spike in April as customers ordered ahead of President Donald Trump’s so-called “Liberation Day” tariffs, sending its shares down more than 4%.
Speaking at the Citi Global TMT Conference, TI finance chief Rafael Lizardi said January to April strength was partly due to tariff-induced market dynamics, with some customers ordering early to get ahead of Trump’s April 2 tariff announcement.
“But then things did slow down after April, or at least didn’t grow as they normally would have.”
Lizardi added that TI has neither been approached about nor discussed any U.S. government equity stake as a condition of CHIPS Act incentives.
Recently, the U.S. government’s move to take a 9.9% equity stake in Intel has raised broader questions about corporate America after Trump said he plans to pursue similar deals.
“Nothing along those lines has been discussed or proposed. We have not been approached on any of that,” Lizardi said, adding TI’s agreement, originally signed under the previous administration and “reworked” with the Trump administration over the past six months, saw only minor, favorable changes.
“There were little things they wanted to change, but nothing along the lines of what you’re hearing from companies like Intel,” he said.
The U.S. Commerce Department has outlined up to $1.6 billion in funding for TI under the U.S. CHIPS and Science Act.
Lizardi also said the free cash flow has been pressured by elevated capital expenditure in recent years. Repurchases have continued but at a slower pace due to capex taking priority.
In July, TI’s quarterly profit forecast failed to impress investors as it pointed to weaker-than-expected demand for its analog chips from some customers.
(Reporting by Jaspreet Singh in Bengaluru; Editing by Vijay Kishore)
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