Expectations exceeded: PC boom brings brilliant numbers to Intel

Exceeded expectations
PC boom gives Intel brilliant numbers

In the Corona crisis, the demand for PCs and laptops is increasing. Chip giant Intel also benefits from this. In the past quarter, the US group generated $ 2.6 billion more than planned. However, not everything is running smoothly at the semiconductor manufacturer.

The chip company Intel significantly exceeded expectations in the past quarter. With a turnover of 20 billion dollars, Intel took around 2.6 billion dollars, around 2.14 billion euros, more than previously announced. That was also one percent less than a year earlier. For the entire year, revenues rose eight percent to a record $ 77.9 billion. The quarterly profit fell by 15 percent to 5.9 billion dollars, as Intel announced after the US market closed on Thursday.

Intel 50.73

In the data center business, revenue fell 16 percent year over year to $ 6.1 billion last quarter. For the entire year, however, revenues rose by eleven percent to $ 26.1 billion after the corona boom in data traffic. With working and learning at home, video conferences, among other things, had increased significantly in 2020. That made the expansion in data centers necessary, from which Intel also benefited. In the business with PC processors, revenues rose nine percent to $ 10.9 billion in the past quarter. The decisive factor was a jump in notebook sales – which is also considered a consequence of the corona pandemic.

Intel is facing a change at the top of the company: On February 15, the experienced tech manager Pat Gelsinger will take over the chief position. The group had recently come under increasing pressure, among other things due to delays in the start of a new processor technology. The Intel share temporarily lost around two percent in after-hours trading.

Commissioning of external manufacturers for individual products likely

The outgoing boss Bob Swan said in a conference call with analysts after the numbers were presented, Intel was making good progress in overcoming the problems in the production of chips with structure widths of 7 nanometers. The group had to announce in the summer that these new processors will continue to be delayed and will not come onto the market until the end of 2022 or the beginning of 2023. The reason is an error in the production process that led to an excessive proportion of unusable chips.

In connection with the problems, there was also the possibility that Intel could have the new processors produced entirely by other manufacturers instead of in its own factories. Now Gelsinger has said that he anticipates that the majority of the product range will come from Intel factories in 2023. At the same time, however, it is likely that "individual technologies and products" will increasingly rely on external manufacturers.

Mastering 7 nanometer technology is extremely important to Intel's future. The smaller the structure width, the more processors fit on a semiconductor wafer during production. In addition, the chips work more efficiently and save more electricity. The competitor AMD already has 7 nanometer products on offer. Even with the current 10 nanometer technology, Intel had to struggle with delays.

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