Sales in the fourth quarter were approximately flat sequentially, in line with the guidance provided, reflecting growing contribution from NovaThor platform shipments as well as $43 million revenues from IP licensing. NovaThor ModAp shipments grew by 45% sequentially to 10.7 million units.
Adjusted operating loss decreased to $133 million as a further result of the execution of the strategic plan announced in April. Since the first quarter 2012 operating losses have been reduced by 55%, decreasing by $164 million.
Didier Lamouche, President and CEO, commented: "The fourth quarter was again a quarter of solid execution for us with revenues coming in as expected and a major growth of the shipments of our NovaThor platform, in part thanks to the new Samsung GALAXY S III mini. We have continued to execute steadily and aggressively on our strategy and delivered on our commitments to improve our financial results, further reducing our losses and controlling expenses. However, we recognize that the level of losses and use of cash remains very high."
Samples of ST-Ericsson's first LTE ModAp products became available in December and the first NovaThor L8580 ModAp platform based on STMicroelectronics' advanced 28nm FD-SOI process was demonstrated on January 7 at CES.
"We are also continuing to execute relentlessly against our committed roadmap," continued Lamouche. "We have reached key maturity milestones with our advanced LTE modem which is in testing with customers and is anticipated to be commercialized as part of our NovaThor L8540 ModAp platform in 2013. As promised less than a year ago we also unveiled our newest chipset - the NovaThor L8580 ModAp - which is the first product to use FD-SOI technology and is the world's fastest and lowest power integrated LTE modem and application processor platform, confirming the disruptive nature of FD-SOI technology."