The changing face of the computer industry was on display on Wednesday as two companies representing the old guard and the new issued strong results for the latest quarter.
Intel, a bedrock of the PC business, and Qualcomm, a vanguard in mobile computing, showed how companies at opposite ends of the computing spectrum are adapting to a market that’s in intense upheaval.
Intel’s net income rose 2 percent to US$2.95 billion, as revenue jumped 21 percent to US$13 billion. The world’s No. 1 maker of PC processors benefited from healthy demand from corporations and in emerging markets. It also rode the popularity of smartphones and tablet computers in selling the chips powering servers that handle the increased mobile traffic.
Intel chief executive Paul Otellini said the results left him with “increasing confidence” for the second half of the year.
Meanwhile, Qualcomm’s net income rose 35 percent to US$1.04 billion and revenue rose 34 percent to US$3.62 billion. The maker of wireless chips credited robust smartphone adoption.
Taken together, Intel’s and Qualcomm’s numbers demonstrate two things: The rise of mobile gadgets and weakness in the consumer PC market in US and Europe have profoundly transformed Intel’s business; and those changes are benefiting companies, such as Qualcomm, as they assume a more prominent role in the semiconductor world.
Meanwhile, Hynix Semiconductor, the world’s second-largest memory chip maker, said yesterday its second-quarter net profit fell 34 percent year-on-year as weak demand for personal computers hit chip prices.
The South Korean firm posted a net profit of 473 billion won (US$451 million) in April-June compared with 718.68 billion won a year earlier.
Chip prices started falling worldwide in the second half of last year as the US economic recovery slowed and eurozone debt problems emerged.
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