Semiconductor giant Intel Corp lowered the midpoint of its first-quarter revenue estimates, saying demand for its microprocessors was at the lower end of seasonal expectations.
The Santa Clara, California-based company said Thursday it now expects sales of between US$8 billion and US$8.2 billion in the first quarter, traditionally one of the weakest times of the year. In January, it predicted revenues would be between US$7.9 billion to US$8.5 billion.
The company does not provide earnings guidance.
Analysts are expecting Intel to post earnings of US$0.27 per share on sales of US$8.28 billion, according to a survey by Thomson First Call. Last year, the company posted first-quarter sales of US$6.75 billion. The first quarter ends March 27.
In recent quarters, Intel has moved up the midpoint of its forecast range during midquarter updates. In the current quarter, the midpoint was lower primarily because of a temporary inventory buildup in Asia-Pacific and Japan, said Andy Bryant, Intel's chief financial officer.
Intel said demand for processors like the Pentium 4 "is consistent with the lower end of normal seasonal patterns and significantly higher than in the same period last year." Intel also noted that its communications chip group was performing within expectations.
Bryant said Intel does not expect corporate spending on technology to increase dramatically.
"No massive rush, just a continued -- few companies at a time -- saying, `We need to spend some money here'" he said.
John Lau, an analyst at Banc of America Securities, last month predicted Intel might move its revenue midpoint lower because of excess notebook inventory in Asia. Intel is a major supplier of notebook chips, including its heavily marketed Centrino technology.
Lau said Thursday he expects the problem to be temporary.
"The notebook inventory is a short-term issue and will be resolved within [the first quarter]," he said. "Intel will post strong growth for the rest of 2004."
In the fourth quarter, Intel earned US$2.17 billion, or US$0.33 a share, on sales of US$8.74 billion.
Intel is currently ramping production of its latest Pentium 4 chip, code-named Prescott. It also is updating its Xeon server processors to support 64-bit memory extensions to compete with Advanced Micro Devices Inc's 64-bit Opteron processors.
Intel released its update after the close of markets. Earlier, Intel shares closed at US$29.65, up US$0.61, in Thursday trading on the NASDAQ.
‘FORM OF PROTEST’: The German Institute Taipei said it was ‘shocked’ to see Nazi symbolism used in connection with political aims as it condemned the incident Sung Chien-liang (宋建樑), who led efforts to recall Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Lee Kun-cheng (李坤城), was released on bail of NT$80,000 yesterday amid an outcry over a Nazi armband he wore to questioning the night before. Sung arrived at the New Taipei City District Prosecutors’ Office for questioning in a recall petition forgery case on Tuesday night wearing a red armband bearing a swastika, carrying a copy of Adolf Hitler’s Mein Kampf and giving a Nazi salute. Sung left the building at 1:15am without the armband and apparently covering the book with a coat. This is a serious international scandal and Chinese
A US Marine Corps regiment equipped with Naval Strike Missiles (NSM) is set to participate in the upcoming Balikatan 25 exercise in the Luzon Strait, marking the system’s first-ever deployment in the Philippines. US and Philippine officials have separately confirmed that the Navy Marine Expeditionary Ship Interdiction System (NMESIS) — the mobile launch platform for the Naval Strike Missile — would take part in the joint exercise. The missiles are being deployed to “a strategic first island chain chokepoint” in the waters between Taiwan proper and the Philippines, US-based Naval News reported. “The Luzon Strait and Bashi Channel represent a critical access
PERSONAL DATA: The implicated KMT members allegedly compiled their petitions by copying names from party lists without the consent of the people concerned Judicial authorities searched six locations yesterday and questioned six people, including one elderly Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) member and five KMT Youth League associates, about alleged signature forgery and fraud relating to their recall efforts against two Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) legislators. After launching a probe into alleged signature forgery and related fraud in the KMT’s recall effort, prosecutors received a number of complaints, including about one petition that had 1,748 signatures of voters whose family members said they had already passed away, and also voters who said they did not approve the use of their name, Taipei Deputy Chief Prosecutor
COUNTERINTELLIGENCE TRAINING: The ministry said 87.5 percent of the apprehended Chinese agents were reported by service members they tried to lure into becoming spies Taiwanese organized crime, illegal money lenders, temples and civic groups are complicit in Beijing’s infiltration of the armed forces, the Ministry of National Defense (MND) said in a report yesterday. Retired service members who had been turned to Beijing’s cause mainly relied on those channels to infiltrate the Taiwanese military, according to the report to be submitted to lawmakers ahead of tomorrow’s hearing on Chinese espionage in the military. Chinese intelligence typically used blackmail, Internet-based communications, bribery or debts to loan sharks to leverage active service personnel to do its bidding, it said. China’s main goals are to collect intelligence, and develop a
RSS