Intel Corp, the semiconductor maker, reported record quarterly earnings on Wednesday , after its strongest showing in the North American market in several years.
The report came as Apple and Yahoo issued similarly strong earnings results on Wednesday amid optimism that technology spending is at last starting to rebound after a three-year slump.
During the fourth quarter, which ended Dec. 27, Intel beat Wall Street's expectations, earning US$2.17 billion, or US$0.33 a share.
That compares with US$1.05 billion, or US$0.16 a share, in the fourth quarter of 2002.
"The fourth quarter was a fitting way to put three tough years behind us," Paul Otellini, president of Intel, said in a conference call with financial analysts. Intel is considered a bellwether for the technology industries generally, and analysts will be looking for further signs of a recovery when Sun Microsystems and IBM report their quarterly results on yesterday.
Andy Bryant, Intel's chief financial officer, said he was surprised by strong sales in mature markets including North America, where the company had seen lagging demand for microprocessors throughout all of last year.
At the end of the previous quarter, the company attributed a steep rise in profits to strong sales in Asia and the developing nations of Europe but had said the markets in North American and Western Europe would continue to be soft.
Sales of US$8.74 billion for the quarter topped Intel's previous record, posted in the third quarter of 2000, when the company had sales of US$8.73 billion. Sales for the fourth quarter of last year were up 22 percent over the previous year's fourth quarter, when the company posted US$7.16 billion. Analysts had expected Intel to post a profit of US$0.25 a share on sales of US$8.65 billion during the fourth quarter.
Sales of Intel's Centrino chip for wireless notebook computers were particularly strong, Otellini said. Mobile processor sales were up 30 percent, compared with the previous year.
"Intel is well positioned for the recovery because the purchases are in notebooks and servers," said Michael McConnell, an analyst at Pacific Crest Securities.
The fourth-quarter results include a US$611 million charge associated with the acquisition of DSP Communications in 1999 for US$1.6 billion. Intel executives said the results were also helped by tax benefits of US$620 million in the quarter, which were related to divestitures.
"We ended the year on a high note as ongoing strength in emerging markets coupled with improving demand in established markets drove revenue to record levels," said Craig Barrett, Intel's chief executive.
The gross margin for the fourth quarter was 63.6 percent, higher than the company's expectation of about 62 percent, primarily because of higher revenue.
But Intel executives warned investors that they would not see these growth rates in the current quarter, which is traditionally a much weaker quarter.
The company forecast revenue for the first quarter would be US$7.9 billion to US$8.5 billion. Gross margin, executives said, would be 60 percent, plus or minus a few points.
In the first quarter of last year, Intel had earnings of US$0.14 a share and sales of US$6.75 billion.
Bryant said the forecast for the first quarter should not be a surprise.
"We're just trying to consolidate the gains of the second half and see where we go in 2004," Bryant said.
"We'll look for seasonality in the near term, and I'd love to be wrong," Bryant said.
Intel executives said the performance of the company's beleaguered communications group, which sells chips for cellphones and hand-held devices, was improving but that the unit continued to lose money in the fourth quarter, largely because of slow demand for telecommunications components.
During the fourth quarter, the unit lost US$49 million, roughly half what it lost last year.
For 2003, the company earned US$5.64 billion, or US$0.85 a share, on sales of US$30.14 billion. In 2002, it earned US$3.12 billion, or US$0.46 a share, on sales of US$26.76 billion.
ROLLER-COASTER RIDE: More than five earthquakes ranging from magnitude 4.4 to 5.5 on the Richter scale shook eastern Taiwan in rapid succession yesterday afternoon Back-to-back weather fronts are forecast to hit Taiwan this week, resulting in rain across the nation in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration said yesterday, as it also warned residents in mountainous regions to be wary of landslides and rockfalls. As the first front approached, sporadic rainfall began in central and northern parts of Taiwan yesterday, the agency said, adding that rain is forecast to intensify in those regions today, while brief showers would also affect other parts of the nation. A second weather system is forecast to arrive on Thursday, bringing additional rain to the whole nation until Sunday, it
LANDSLIDES POSSIBLE: The agency advised the public to avoid visiting mountainous regions due to more expected aftershocks and rainfall from a series of weather fronts A series of earthquakes over the past few days were likely aftershocks of the April 3 earthquake in Hualien County, with further aftershocks to be expected for up to a year, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Based on the nation’s experience after the quake on Sept. 21, 1999, more aftershocks are possible over the next six months to a year, the agency said. A total of 103 earthquakes of magnitude 4 on the local magnitude scale or higher hit Hualien County from 5:08pm on Monday to 10:27am yesterday, with 27 of them exceeding magnitude 5. They included two, of magnitude
CONDITIONAL: The PRC imposes secret requirements that the funding it provides cannot be spent in states with diplomatic relations with Taiwan, Emma Reilly said China has been bribing UN officials to obtain “special benefits” and to block funding from countries that have diplomatic ties with Taiwan, a former UN employee told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. At a House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee hearing into “international relations within the multilateral system,” former Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) employee Emma Reilly said in a written statement that “Beijing paid bribes to the two successive Presidents of the [UN] General Assembly” during the two-year negotiation of the Sustainable Development Goals. Another way China exercises influence within the UN Secretariat is
Taiwan’s first drag queen to compete on the internationally acclaimed RuPaul’s Drag Race, Nymphia Wind (妮妃雅), was on Friday crowned the “Next Drag Superstar.” Dressed in a sparkling banana dress, Nymphia Wind swept onto the stage for the final, and stole the show. “Taiwan this is for you,” she said right after show host RuPaul announced her as the winner. “To those who feel like they don’t belong, just remember to live fearlessly and to live their truth,” she said on stage. One of the frontrunners for the past 15 episodes, the 28-year-old breezed through to the final after weeks of showcasing her unique