Audience Inc, which makes chips used in Apple Inc's iPhones, said its
top customer is unlikely to use its technology for the latest iPhone,
sending Audience shares down 58 percent in after-hours trading.
Audience's
chips improve the voice quality in mobile devices by filtering out
background noise, and the company supplies these to Apple's contract
manufacturers like Foxconn International Holdings Ltd and Protek Ltd.
The
Mountain View, California-based company also sells processors and
licenses its processor intellectual property to Apple and some of its
units.
However, the company said in a statement that it now
believes Apple is unlikely to use its processor technology in the iPhone
5, which is expected to be launched next week. Audience has been
selling to Apple since 2008.
An Audience executive was not immediately available for further comment.
For
Audience, Apple's licensing of the filtering technology accounted for
37 percent of total revenue for both the three and six months ended June
30.
The company, which also counts Samsung Electronics Co Ltd
among its top customers, said in a regulatory filing in May that a
reduction in orders from one or more of its customers could
significantly harm its business, financial condition and cash flows.
Loss
of Apple contract, however, will not impact Audience's third-quarter
results but would affect it a quarter after Apple starts selling its
next-generation mobile phones, the company said in a statement.
Audience
raised its third-quarter revenue outlook to between $35 million and $38
million from its prior forecast of between $33 million and $36 million.
It expects an adjusted profit of 14 cents to 18 cents per share.
Analysts
on average were expecting a profit of 11 cents per share on revenue of
$34.7 million, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.
The company
competes with Maxim Integrated Products Inc, ON Semiconductor Corp,
Qualcomm Inc, Texas Instruments Inc, Wolfson Microelectronics Plc and
Yamaha Corp.
Shares of the company, which went public in May, fell
to $7.99 in trading after the regular market close. The stock closed at
$18.86 on the Nasdaq on Thursday.
Audience, which had a market
value of about $380 million at close of regular trading on Thursday,
lost $200 million in value in extended trade.
Copyright Thomson Reuters 2012
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