NEW YORK, Dec 11 (AFP) - Shares in microchip giant Advanced Micro Devices plummeted 20 percent in opening trade Tuesday after it warned of lower profits because of a tough "flash-memory" market.
AMD shares crumbled 4.03 dollars, or 20.02 percent, to 16.10 dollars within 15 minutes of the opening bell.
AMD had warned late Monday that operating profit in the last quarter of 2004, ending December 26, would be "significantly down" from the previous quarter's 68.4 million dollars.
In a "competetive and challenging" flash memory market, it said predicted the memory chip business would suffer a dip in sales and an operating loss in the quarter.
Flash memory is a small memory device that keeps data even after a computer has been switched off.
01/11/2005 14:54 GMT - AFP