Intel Corp on Thursday said the year is off to a “soft” start amid tepid economic growth, particularly in China, which is hurting demand for personal computers and the servers that have fueled the company’s growth.
The world’s largest semiconductor maker predicted revenue for the first quarter of this year that fell short of analysts’ forecasts.
Intel, which sells more than 80 percent of its goods outside the US, is “cautious on the level of economic growth” in China and the rest of Asia, chief financial officer Stacy Smith told investors.
Intel has weathered a four-year slide in PC sales by relying on demand for server processors.
Concern about the economy has consumers and companies in some parts of the world holding off on computer purchases, Intel said.
“It’s very discouraging,” Synovus Securities Inc fund manager Daniel Morgan said. “This is the first heavyweight tech company to come out and I was hopeful we could get a little lift.”
Intel’s outlook also highlights the company’s inability to wean itself from the shrinking PC market. Data-center sales slowed to an increase of 5.3 percent in the fourth quarter, limiting the unit’s growth for last year to 11 percent. The business had surged 18 percent in 2014.
Intel shares fell as much as 5.6 percent in extended trading following the announcement. They had gained 2.6 percent to US$32.75 at the close in New York. The stock lost 5.1 percent of its value last year.
Revenue in the current period is likely to be US$14 billion, plus or minus US$500 million, the Santa Clara, California-based company said in a statement.
On average, analysts projected sales of US$14.2 billion, data compiled by Bloomberg showed.
Intel also said fourth-quarter net income slipped to US$3.6 billion, or US$0.74 a share, from US$3.7 billion, or US$0.74, a year earlier. Revenue climbed to US$14.9 billion, while gross margin was 64 percent last quarter and will contract to 58 percent in the current period.
Fourth-quarter revenue in Intel’s PC-chip division fell 1.2 percent to US$8.76 billion, or 59 percent of total sales. The data center group posted sales of US$4.31 billion.
Taiwan Transport and Storage Corp (TTS, 台灣通運倉儲) yesterday unveiled its first electric tractor unit — manufactured by Volvo Trucks — in a ceremony in Taipei, and said the unit would soon be used to transport cement produced by Taiwan Cement Corp (TCC, 台灣水泥). Both TTS and TCC belong to TCC International Holdings Ltd (台泥國際集團). With the electric tractor unit, the Taipei-based cement firm would become the first in Taiwan to use electric vehicles to transport construction materials. TTS chairman Koo Kung-yi (辜公怡), Volvo Trucks vice president of sales and marketing Johan Selven, TCC president Roman Cheng (程耀輝) and Taikoo Motors Group
Among the rows of vibrators, rubber torsos and leather harnesses at a Chinese sex toys exhibition in Shanghai this weekend, the beginnings of an artificial intelligence (AI)-driven shift in the industry quietly pulsed. China manufactures about 70 percent of the world’s sex toys, most of it the “hardware” on display at the fair — whether that be technicolor tentacled dildos or hyper-realistic personalized silicone dolls. Yet smart toys have been rising in popularity for some time. Many major European and US brands already offer tech-enhanced products that can enable long-distance love, monitor well-being and even bring people one step closer to
RECORD-BREAKING: TSMC’s net profit last quarter beat market expectations by expanding 8.9% and it was the best first-quarter profit in the chipmaker’s history Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), which counts Nvidia Corp as a key customer, yesterday said that artificial intelligence (AI) server chip revenue is set to more than double this year from last year amid rising demand. The chipmaker expects the growth momentum to continue in the next five years with an annual compound growth rate of 50 percent, TSMC chief executive officer C.C. Wei (魏哲家) told investors yesterday. By 2028, AI chips’ contribution to revenue would climb to about 20 percent from a percentage in the low teens, Wei said. “Almost all the AI innovators are working with TSMC to address the
FUTURE PLANS: Although the electric vehicle market is getting more competitive, Hon Hai would stick to its goal of seizing a 5 percent share globally, Young Liu said Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密), a major iPhone assembler and supplier of artificial intelligence (AI) servers powered by Nvidia Corp’s chips, yesterday said it has introduced a rotating chief executive structure as part of the company’s efforts to cultivate future leaders and to enhance corporate governance. The 50-year-old contract electronics maker reported sizable revenue of NT$6.16 trillion (US$189.67 billion) last year. Hon Hai, also known as Foxconn Technology Group (富士康科技集團), has been under the control of one man almost since its inception. A rotating CEO system is a rarity among Taiwanese businesses. Hon Hai has given leaders of the company’s six