UPDATE 1-Atmel Q4 results beat estimates

* Q4 adj EPS $0.04 vs $0.00 est

* Revenue up 3 pct

Feb 8 (Reuters) - Chipmaker Atmel Corp (ATML.O) posted better-than-expected quarterly results, helped by strength in its microcontroller and touchscreen products.

For the fourth quarter, Atmel posted a loss of $76.9 million, or 17 cents a share, compared with a loss of $24.4 million, or 5 cents a share, a year ago.

Excluding items, the company, which competes with STMicroelectronics (STM.PA), Microchip Technology Inc (MCHP.O) and Texas Instruments Inc TXN.N, posted a profit of 4 cents a share. Analysts were expecting it to breakeven, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

Revenue rose 3 percent to $343.6 million, above analysts' expectations of $338 million.

"Based on our solid design win momentum and booking activity we are excited about the outlook for 2010, particularly for our microcontroller and touch products," Chief Executive Steve Laub said in a statement.

In a recent interview with Reuters, Laub had said that Atmel expects to gain significant market share in touchscreen technology in 2010 and 2011 and sees its microcontroller unit growing faster than the industry this year. [ID:nWNAB7870]

Microcontrollers, which are entire computers on a single chip that can be used in applications from cars to smartphones, account for about 33 percent of Atmel's revenue.

Shares of the San-Jose, California-based company closed at $4.80 Monday on Nasdaq. (Reporting by Manasi Phadke in Bangalore; Editing by Jarshad Kakkrakandy)