Intel chipper about results


16 Jul 2003

Chipmaker Intel Corporation said yesterday that good PC sales and strong performance of new technologies had helped push up its net income for the second quarter to US$896m on revenues of US$6.8bn. This compares with earnings of US$446m on revenue of US$6.3bn in the same period a year ago.

Welcoming the results, Intel chief executive officer Craig Barrett commented: “Overall, the quarter came in slightly better than we expected, led by good demand in our computing-related business, which posted solid year-over-year results,” he said. “We continued to see strength in emerging markets, and our Asia-Pacific region set an all-time revenue record.

“Our investments in R&D and manufacturing continued to generate strong products,” he continued. “We saw excellent market acceptance for new, more powerful versions of the Pentium 4 processor for desktops and for Intel Centrino mobile technology for notebooks … On a day when Intel celebrates its 35th anniversary, our continued focus on product and technology leadership remains the right strategy for long-term success.”

The technology giant, which employs over 4,000 people in Ireland, said it expected third quarter revenue to be between US$6.9 and US$7.5bn – following a pattern where Intel’s third quarter revenues exceed those of the second quarter – and its gross margin to rise from 50.9pc to 54pc as its cost base fell. It also estimated that R&D spending for 2003 would be US$4.2bn and capital expenditure between US$3.5 and US$4bn.

By Brian Skelly