By Shara Tibken Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES NEW YORK -(Dow Jones)- Programmable chip maker Xilinx Inc. (XLNX) cut its revenue guidance for the current quarter, saying it's seeing weaker-than-expected sales to a few large communications customers. Xilinx--which makes chips used in cellphone base stations, network routers, DVD players and cable modems--has seen record sales in recent quarters as demand rebounded from low levels during the recession. But the company in October projected weaker-than-expected fiscal third-quarter revenue. "It would seem to me that this is evidence of a cyclical inventory correction that we'd been expecting and have talked about previously," said Auriga analyst Daniel Berenbaum. He said it could take longer than Xilinx had previously expected for inventory to get back to better levels. The news sent Xilinx shares, which had been up 13% this year, down 5.2% to nearly $27 in late trading. Shares of competitor Altera Corp. (ALTR) also fell, down 3.7% to $34.49, and Analog Devices Inc. (ADI) slid 1% to $37.60. On Tuesday Xilinx projected a fiscal third-quarter sales decline of 7% to 9% sequentially, worse than its previous view of revenue flat to down 4%. The company said weaker-than-expected sales in its wireless segment--which includes chips used for cellphone base stations to build out 3G and 4G networks--contributed to the lower guidance. Xilinx said sales growth should return to the communications segment in the March quarter based on current backlog and forecasts from its large customers. The company plans to report its third-quarter results Jan. 19. -By Shara Tibken, Dow Jones Newswires; 212-416-2189; shara.tibken@dowjones.com
