Sees increased demand for its products

Aug 28, 2009 15:04 GMT  ·  By

Santa Clara, California-based Intel Corp. has just raised its Q3 revenue forecast above Wall Street's expectation, claiming that the demand for its processors was stronger than expected. According to the world's leading vendor of computer processors, the revenue for the third quarter of this year should be of US$9 billion, with a margin of plus or minus US$200 million. The newly announced figures are above the company's previous forecast of US$8.5 billion and a margin of plus or minus US$400 million.

In addition, the company has announced that the gross margin for the third quarter is expected to be in the upper half of the company's previously announced range of 53 percent, plus or minus two percentage points. Intel already said, back in July, that its chip business was doing better, following a difficult downturn, the worst since 2001 for the PC industry.

The implications of Intel's announcement on the overall PC market are yet to be determined, but it's clear that there is some improvement in the industry. In the last quarter, Intel's sales exceeded expectations mainly due to PC makers that had to restock their chip inventories after having them run lower to save money. However, even with the raised forecast, Chipzilla's sales would still be lower, compared to last year's figures, when the company's revenue was of US$10.2 billion in Q3.

Despite the overall slow demand for computer systems, the Santa Clara, California-based chip maker has managed to minimize its loss thanks to the introduction of the Atom processors. These chips have been featured in a new category of ultraportable mini-laptops, known as netbooks. Intel's Atom business is expected to grow, as the company is gearing up for the release of its next generation of Atom-based processors with the introduction of the much-anticipated Pine Trail platform.