Chipmaker STMicroelectronics announced on Thursday that its first-quarter sales would fall by more than 15% year-on-year, after fourth-quarter sales missed its estimates due to slowing demand.

Orders from the automotive industry nevertheless helped chipmakers offset the impact of trade tensions between the US and China and weak demand for personal electronics.

"In the fourth quarter, orders from our customers were down on the third quarter. We continued to observe stable final demand in the automotive sector, no significant increase in the personal electronics sector and a further deterioration in the industrial sector," summarized group CEO Jean-Marc Chery in a statement.

The company, which counts Tesla and Apple among its customers, forecasts first-quarter sales of $3.6 billion (€3.3 billion).

Fourth-quarter net sales amounted to $4.28 billion, below analysts' consensus of $4.30 billion, according to an LSEG survey.

Quarterly operating profit fell by 20.5% to $1.02 billion.

In 2024, the company plans to invest around $2.5 billion in net capital expenditure, and is targeting annual sales of between $15.9 and $16.9 billion. (Michal Aleksandrowicz reports from Gdansk; Corentin Chappron, edited by Zhifan Liu)