RF Micro's Outlook Is Sunny

Updated from 4:47 p.m. EDT

RF Micro Devices(RFMD) forecast a return to growth in the current quarter, even as sales in its fiscal first quarter fell 11%.

The bullish forecast sent RFMD shares up 7.6% to $6.97 in extended trading Tuesday.

The Greensboro, N.C., chipmaker has been stung by a slowdown at cell phone handset maker Motorola(MOT), which accounted for roughly a third of RFMD's sales last year.

But RFMD now says its chip sales are poised to outpace the growth of the overall handset market in the second half of the year, with or without any contribution from Motorola.

"While we have considerable design activity with this customer, our September quarterly revenue projections do not currently include their revenue growth," RFMD CEO Bob Bruggeworth said in a statement.

The company said sales of its radio frequency chips to other large cell phone customers, such as Nokia(NOK)and Samsung were offsetting the weakness at Motorola.

Orders of chips used in high-end cell phones based on the WCDMA air-interface standard are already up 50% sequentially, the company said.

And RFMD said its new Polaris 3 chip, which integrates various functions into a single chip, has begun volume production and is expected to begin commercial shipments in the current quarter.

The company said it has already signed a new top-tier handset maker to the list of existing Polaris customers