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
