Intel recorded third-quarter revenue of US$7.8 billion and a profit of 25 US cents per share, beating analysts forecasts of US$7.7 billion in sales and earnings of 23 US cents per share.
The chipmaker said sales of its mobile, Centrino-based systems were brisk during the period, as were the rest of its "Intel Architecture" microprocessor products for the period ending 27 September. Notebook processor sales outpaced desktop sales during the quarter, executives said.
"Intel delivered excellent results in the quarter led by global strength in our computing-related business, resulting in record unit shipments of microprocessors and chipsets," said Intel CEO Craig Barrett said in a statement.
In addition, Intel said it expected sales for the fourth quarter to be between US$8.1 billion and US$8.7 billion, compared with current analysts forecasts' of US$8.3 billion. The company said it expected its fourth-quarter gross margin percentage to be about 60, "plus or minus a couple of points", compared with a gross margin percentage of 58.2 for the third quarter.
Some solution providers and system builders in the reseller channel said they, too, believed a better business climate was developing, as evidenced by their own results of late.
"We had a pretty decent third quarter," said John Samborski, vice president of Ace Computers, a system builder. "Education sales were down, but commercial sales seem to be picking up a little bit. And [US] federal government sales were on fire."
Samborski said higher performance offered by newer processors appears to be a key driver of sales. He said sales of lesser-performing, but lower-priced, Celeron-based systems have waned, while sales of higher-end desktop workstations have grown.
"I think business is coming back," Samborski said.
While sounding an optimistic note about its own business, Intel, however, stopped short of calling a recovery.
"Intel had an excellent growth quarter, across all geographies, channels and product lines," said Intel President Paul Otellini, in a conference call with analysts.
"Our channel business set records in both CPU volume and revenue," Otellini said.
However, the executives -- while touting a strong quarter for Intel -- stopped short of saying the numbers portrayed a wide-ranging recovery, with "only modest growth in pcs in us corporate segment," Otellini said.
Gearing up for the fourth quarter, Intel Chief Financial Officer Andy Bryant said "we have put some additional supply in place in our own inventory, and in the distribution channel, to support [demand] increases."
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