Warren East, Chief Executive Officer, said:
"In Q4 and throughout 2011 ARM has seen strong licensing growth, driven by market-leading semiconductor companies increasing their commitment to ARM technology, and more new customers choosing ARM technology for the first time. We have also seen our royalty revenue continue to grow faster than industry revenues as the ARM Partnership gains share in our target markets.
2012 will bring exciting opportunities and challenges as ARM enters competitive new markets where we are well positioned to succeed with leading technology, an innovative business model and a thriving ecosystem of Partners. As our customers are designing more ARM technology into their widening product portfolios, ARM is investing in the development of new products. These products will drive further long-term growth in our revenues, profits and cash."
Outlook
ARM enters 2012 with a robust opportunity pipeline for licensing and a record order backlog, helped by new product introductions and new markets. In addition, market share gains in long-term growth sectors look set to continue as our Partners introduce new chips based on ARM technology. Given industry analysts are forecasting that semiconductor revenues declined about 10% sequentially in Q4 and given ARM's very strong license revenues in Q4, we expect group dollar revenues for the first quarter to be in-line with current market expectations of around $200 million.
For full-year 2012, the global macro-economic situation remains uncertain and is likely to influence consumer and enterprise spending, thereby potentially impacting semiconductor revenues and industry confidence. Assuming the macroeconomic situation does not deteriorate significantly, we expect group dollar revenues for the full-year to be at least in line with current market expectations of just over $860 million.
