Intel Sales Rise on Record Microprocessor Shipments

A spike in the number of microprocessor units shipped helped Intel Corp. record an increase in its third-quarter revenue and income, the company said Tuesday.

Intel reported third-quarter revenue of US$10.1 billion, a 15 percent increase year-over-year, beating Thomson Financial analyst estimates of $9.617 billion. The company also recorded net income of $1.9 billion, a 43 percent increase year-over-year.

The company recorded $0.31 in earnings per share, matching analyst estimates.

Intel shipped more than 2 million quad-core processors during the quarter, the company said.

A number of big announcements also came during the quarter, which ended Sept. 29. At the Intel Developer Forum in September, the company announced it will ramp up performance and energy efficiency in its microprocessors by using a 32-nanometer process technology starting in 2009, with the Nehalem processors.

It also announced the next generation of vPro processor technology, a hardware and software combination to manage business desktop PCs, during the quarter.

The company also estimated revenue for the fourth quarter to be between $10.5 billion and $11.1 billion.