Chipmaker Altera raises quarterly sales forecast-UPDATE 1

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Wednesday September 08, 2010 01:00:21 PM GMT

* Chipmaker Altera increases sales guidance

* Company to report quarterly results on Oct. 19 (Adds details throughout)

SAN FRANCISCO, Sept 7 (Reuters) - Programmable chipmaker Altera Corp said on Tuesday its was increasing its guidance for quarterly revenue growth to between 10 percent and 14 percent sequentially due to expansion across its main markets.

The company, which along with competitor Xilinx Inc <XLNX.O> dominates the programmable logic chips market, had previously estimated third-quarter sales would expand between 4 percent and 8 percent over the prior quarter.

"The telecom and wireless vertical market is on track to be the fastest growing portion of the business, driven in large part by 3G wireless deployments and needs for additional wireless backhaul capacity," Altera said in a statement.

Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S on average had expected Altera to increase its third-quarter revenue by 6 percent from the prior quarter.

In the second quarter, Altera posted revenue of $469 million ,and it is expected to report third-quarter results on Oct. 19. (Reporting by Noel Randewich)

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