Intel reports fall in Q3 sales and profits
1 min read
Intel has reported a drop in both sales and profits for the third quarter of 2012, on the back of what it described as a 'tough economic environment'.
The chip maker's net profit for the three months was down 14% from the same period last year, at a figure of $2.7billion. Net sales also fell 5.5% to $13.46bn.
"Our third quarter results reflected a continuing tough economic environment," said Paul Otellini, Intel's president and ceo. "The world of computing is in the midst of a period of breakthrough innovation and creativity. As we look to the fourth quarter, we're pleased with the continued progress in Ultrabooks and phones and excited about the range of Intel based tablets coming to market."
While Intel's server and data centre business had helped it offset weak pc sales in recent quarters, in the third quarter, revenue from that division also disappointed as enterprises bought fewer servers.
"You have to remember, data centre has been the rock we've all leaned on," said Patrick Wang, an analyst at Evercore Partners. "It's a reflection of enterprises and companies rationalising their year-end spend."
Intel's disappointing results were mirrored by tech giant IBM, which reported flat net profits of $3.8bn. Total revenues for the third quarter of 2012 of $24.7bn, it said, were down 5% from the third quarter of 2011.
