Texas Instruments Inc. said first quarter net income decreased 97 percent and revenue fell 36 percent on a broad decreased in sales across all product segments even as a decline in total inventories and clearer visibility offered the first glimpse the industry slowdown might be ending.

The Dallas-based digital signal processor and analog semiconductor vendor said it was optimistic demand should begin climbing slowly in coming quarters although president and CEO Rich Templeton warned it might be too early to definitively call an end to the market downturn.

"Demand for our products has begun to stabilize after sharp drops in the past two quarters," Templeton said in a statement. "Many customers have increased orders for TI products as they have begun to slow down their inventory reductions." Templeton said the company has yet to "see signs of a broad-based recovery in our business" and added that the company expects to "keep our operations flexible so that we can respond quickly to any shifts in demand."

TI's net income fell to $17 million, or 1 cent per share, in the quarter ended March 31, down sharply from $662 million in the year-ago quarter and $107 million in the December 2008 quarter. Restructuring expenses of $105 million helped further push down TI's net profit in the recently ended quarter.

Revenue in the three months ended March slid 36 percent, to $2.1 billion, slightly exceeding analysts' average estimate of $1.9 billion. Revenue in the March 2008 quarter was $3.3 billion, the company said.

Revenue dropped in all of TI's operating segments, including the analog IC division, where sales fell to $814 million, down 36 percent from the first quarter of 2008, "due to lower high-volume analog and logic revenue," according to the company. Sales of high-performance analog and power management products fell by a smaller margin, TI said.

The company's wireless semiconductor revenue decreased 40 percent, to $551 million from $921 million in the comparable quarter of 2008. TI said the bigger drop in wireless revenue compared with the analog IC division was due to lower baseband semiconductor sales.

TI expects second quarter revenue will be between $1.95 billion and $2.4 billion, a range that shows the company's continued inability to accurately predict short-term demand. Earnings per share in the second quarter will range from 1 cent to 15 cents, the company said.