Including the charge, the Santa Clara, the company now says it lost $1.04 billion, or 32 cents per share, in the period ending June 30. Previously, it had reported a small profit of $12 million, or break-even on a per-share basis, for the period.

Sun said it expects to post a loss of between 7 cents and 10 cents for the quarter that ended Sunday. The company declined to be more specific, saying it would report its full results on Oct. 16, as scheduled.

Analysts were expecting Sun to report a first-quarter loss of 2 cents per share on sales of $2.71 billion, according to a survey by Thomson First Call.

The charge is to boost a ``deferred tax assets valuation allowance,'' which was calculated when its fourth-quarter earnings were announced July 23 and recalculated before those figures were reported officially to the Securities and Exchange Commission.

The charge was in accordance with the Statement of Financial Accounting Standards No. 109 and generally accepted accounting procedures, said Andy Lark, a Sun spokesman.

The greater-than-expected first-quarter loss is yet another blow to Sun. The company was hit hard since the tech downturn that began in 2000.

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