Intel Corp said on Tuesday that its third-quarter net income was unchanged, stymied by a continued slump in global PC demand.
The chipmaker earned US$2.95 billion, or US$0.58 per share, compared with US$2.97 billion, or US$0.58 per share, in the same quarter last year.
Revenue was also unchanged at about US$13.5 billion.
The drop in PC-related sales came amid another decline in PC shipments. Intel supplies chips for about four out of every five PCs. The rest come from Advanced Micro Devices Inc, which is due to report its financial results today.
International Data Corp said last week that worldwide PC shipments fell nearly 8 percent during the third quarter to 81.6 million, while fellow market research firm Gartner Inc put the decline at almost 9 percent to 80.3 million.
The two firms define PCs slightly differently.
The drop marked the sixth straight quarter of decline for the industry, as computer makers and the companies that supply them try to reshape themselves amid the continued shift toward tablets and smartphones.
Intel chief executive officer Brian Krzanich said on a conference call with investors that while consumer demand in emerging markets was sluggish during the recent quarter, the company started to see early signs of improvement in North America and Western Europe.
He attributed that to the company’s growing product lineup.
“We’re executing on our strategy to offer an increasingly broad and diverse product portfolio that spans key growth segments, operating systems and form factors,” he said. ““Since August, we have introduced more than 40 new products for market segments from the Internet-of-Things to data centers, with an increasing focus on ultra-mobile devices and two-in-one systems.”
Intel’s results for the quarter, which ended on Sept. 28, beat Wall Street predictions.
Analysts polled by FactSet expected a profit of US$0.53 per share on revenue of US$13.4 billion.
Revenue at the company’s PC business fell 3.5 percent to US$8.4 billion because of a drop in the number of chips sold, while data center revenue increased 12 percent to US$2.9 billion, helped by both higher prices and higher volumes.
For the fourth quarter, Intel projected revenue of US$13.2 billion to US$14.2 billion.
Analysts were looking for US$14 billion.
Shares of Santa Clara, California-based Intel Corp fell US$0.59, or 2.5 percent, to US$22.80 in extended trading after the release of results.
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