SANTA CLARA, California: World's largest chip maker Intel Corporation Thursday hiked its revenue forecast for the second quarter spurred by strong sales of notebook computers that use Intel Centrino chips.
The company now expects revenue of $9.1 billion-$9.3 billion for the quarter that ends July 2. In April, it had projected a range of $8.6 billion to $9.2 billion.
Though Intel does not forecast its earnings, analysts said there could be a profit of 28 cents a share for the quarter. The company, however, said gross margins would probably be 57 per cent, rather than 56 per cent, forecast in April.
Intel had recorded a net income of $1.76 billion on sales of $8.05 billion in quarter 2 last year.
The revision coincides with the apex association of chip makers, the Semiconductor Industry Association, predicting a 6 per cent increase in chip sales in 2005 (at $226 billion), revising an earlier estimate that kept the figures at those for 2004.
In a very positive certification of its prowess, Intel had finalized a deal with Apple Computer Monday that will see Apple's Macintosh systems using Intel chips in place of the hitherto used IBM PowerPC chips.
The company said increased use of laptops has set the pace for sales of its Centrino chips, vindicating Chief Executive Officer Paul Otellini's emphasis on selling the more-profitable laptop chips. Otellini, who assumed the CEO's position on 18 May, had outlined that he planned to improve the company's sales and profit by concentrating on chips that add features such as sharper graphics and sound.
Intel has more than $5 billion in sales from Centrino since the chip came into the market two years ago.
Intel's chief financial officer Andy Bryant told analysts that the notebook computer market "was expected to be strong when we began the quarter and it's done even better than expected."
