Intel marks best sequential growth ever

Intel today says it recorded one of the best fiscal quarters in its history and owed it almost exclusively to notebooks. The chip maker generated $9.4 billion in revenue during the summer, an eight percent drop from a year earlier but a sharp 17.5 percent jump from this spring. The surge is the best the company has seen in the past 30 years, Intel says.

The moblity group, which covers nearly all portable chips at the company, climbed 19 percent between seasons while revenue from the netbook-class Atom chip was also up 15 percent. Results were largely only hurt by a small drop in the average selling prices.

Intel directly credits the increase to back-to-school sales that were healthy in spite of ongoing economic worries. It adds that many companies have been building up supplies of processors and chipsets ahead of the usual holiday shopping spike in the fall.

The outlook for the end of the year is similarly optimistic and involves larger gross margins and a larger-still predicted revenue of $10.1 million. Intel expects much of this to come from the impending launch of its first 32 nanometer processors, which will command higher prices, but also more processor sales overall and a clearout of older chips.

The news has already triggered a brief rush in Intel's after-hours stock value and is likely to spark optimism regarding the computer industry as a whole, particularly for companies that depend heavily or exclusively on Intel. In the US, Apple, Dell and Toshiba are most likely to benefit from a strong Intel where Acer and HP will see less effect due to their more frequent use of AMD components.

By Electronista Staff