STMicro plans to invest up to $3.6 bln in 2022 to meet chip demand

PARIS, Jan 27 (Reuters) – Franco-Italian chipmaker STMicroelectronics said it planned to invest up to $3.6 billion this year and open a new production line in Italy to meet high demand for semiconductors.

The Geneva-based company expects full-year revenues in the range of $14.8 billion to $15.3 billion in 2022, compared with $12.8 billion last year.

Fourth-quarter earnings per share amounted to $0.82, beating​Refinitiv’s mean analyst estimate of 69 cents per share. STMicro sees first-quarter sales to be around $3.5 billion, reflecting an decrease of 1.6% from the previous quarter and gross margin around 45%.

(Reporting by Mathieu Rosemain, editing by Tassilo Hummel)