Intel lowers Q4 revenue forecast

The company now expects revenue of $13.7billion, plus or minus $300million, on both a GAAP and non-GAAP basis. Previous expectations were $14.7bn, plus or minus $500m. While sales of pcs are expected to be up sequentially in Q4, the worldwide pc supply chain is reducing inventories and microprocessor purchases as a result of hard disk drive supply shortages. Intel says it expects hard disk drive supply shortages to continue into the first quarter, followed by a rebuilding of microprocessor inventories as supplies of hard disk drives recover during the first half of 2012. The company now expects a Q4 gross margin of around 64.5%, lower than the previous forecast of around 65%. The expectation for a non-GAAP gross margin is 65.5%, plus or minus a couple of percentage points, half a percentage point down on previous forecasts. All other expectations are unchanged.