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Atmel reassures investors

Atmel Corp. (Nasdaq: ATML) reassured investors Tuesday that its business prospects remain strong despite the current weakness in the Euro and fears chip and PC companies are troubled following Intel's warning last week.

Shares in the semiconductor maker were up 4 percent to 16.25 ahead of Tuesday's opening bell. Its stock tumbled in tandem with Intel (Nasdaq: INTC) and other chip-makers Friday.

Atmel said it believes its financial results will not be materially impacted by the current weakness in the Euro, as a large percentage of Atmel's sales in Europe are U.S. dollar based. Also, with four manufacturing sites in Europe, a substantial amount of the company's costs in Europe are in Euros, translating into a lower U.S. dollar cost to Atmel.

George Perlegos, Atmel's President and CEO said the company's large amount of U.S. dollar-based sales and Euro-based costs act as a natural hedge against fluctuations in the value of the Euro and the U.S. dollar. He added that "any speculation concerning weakness in the PC sector does not translate into a material adverse impact to Atmel's near-term financial results as demand for Atmel products is widely spread across many end markets."