ARM, Infineon jump on Apple result, takeover talk

Shares in European chip firms ARM and Infineon jumped on Wednesday on rumours of possible interest from larger suitors and strong results from Apple overnight.

Apple results beat expectations on strong iPhone sales, and it gave a better-than-expected revenue forecast.

Shares in Infineon were lifted by takeover talk, with traders mentioning Intel as a potential acquirer. Infineon and Intel declined to comment.

The Financial Times reported on renewed speculation that ARM could be a takeover target, mentioning Apple as a possible suitor.

"ARM is up on a combination of bid speculation in the press today and Apple's strong results last night, said one London-based analyst.

Shares in Infineon were up 3.6 percent by 0817 GMT, ARM stock was up 3.4 per cent and STMicro was up 1.6 per cent. Infineon and STM supply chips to Apple's products, which also uses ARM designs.

Apple, which typically offers conservative forecasts, projected revenue of $13bn to $13.4bn in the June quarter. Wall Street had forecast revenue of $12.97bn.

The company sold 8.75 million iPhones in the March quarter - more than double the figure of a year ago and way above estimates - driven by strong, broad-based, international demand for the smartphone, some of it due to the addition of new carriers in key overseas markets.