Intel's second-quarter revenue rose by 8% compared with
last year's second quarter, in what is usually a seasonally slow
quarter for the chip maker.
"[The second quarter] was slightly better than expected, and
substantially better than a year ago," said Intel president and
chief operating officer Paul Otellini.
The company reported revenue of $6.8bn ($4.3bn), compared with
revenue of $6.3bn in last year's second quarter.
Net income was $896m (£563m), up 101% from last year's
second-quarter net income of $446m. Last year's second-quarter net
income figures included $218m in charges related to divestitures
and write-offs.
Revenue from the Intel Architecture group, which manufactures
and sells the company's desktop, mobile and server processors, was
up slightly over the first quarter of this year, at $5.8bn
(£3.6bn).
Intel had expected flat revenue from its microprocessor
division, but was surprised by the strength of emerging markets,
especially Asia-Pacific, where the company set a revenue
record.
Intel's processor division has now reported results at the high
end of seasonal patterns for three consecutive quarters, said Andy
Bryant, chief financial officer at Intel.
Intel competitor Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) is expected to
blame the outbreak of Sars for a revenue shortfall when it reports
second-quarter results this week.
Other hardware suppliers expected lower revenue in Asia because
of slower sales caused by the virus, but Sars had "a very modest
impact" on Intel.
The second-quarter marked the first full quarter that Intel has
sold its Pentium M processor and Centrino mobile package. The
company surpassed its goal of shipping one million Pentium M
processors in the quarter, and expects to ship two million in the
third quarter, Otellini said.
Mobile processor shipments grew twice as fast as desktop
processor shipments in the second quarter.
Sales of server processors were also strong, led by sales of the
Xeon DP processor for one-way and two-way servers, Otellini
said.
Flash memory sales were lower for the second consecutive
quarter. Intel executives said earlier this year that a decision to
raise flash memory prices in the first quarter hurt that
business.
Any impact of Sars was felt by the flash memory business, but
demand remains strong for high-end mobile phones with flash
memory.
Intel said it expected its third-quarter revenue to be between
$6.9bn (£4.3bn) and $7.5bn. The company expects to incur a tax
benefit in the third quarter from a divestiture that is close to
completion.
Tom Krazit writes for IDG News Service