HP Overtakes Dell as Intel's Largest Customer

Hewlett-Packard became the biggest customer worldwide for microprocessor maker Intel last year, surpassing rival Dell.

HP, which nabbed the title of world's largest PC vendor from Dell in 2006, accounted for 20 percent of Intel's revenue last year, up from 17 percent in 2007, the chip maker said in its annual report on Monday. Dell accounted for 18 percent of Intel's revenue, unchanged from a year earlier.

The two PC vendors are by far Intel's largest customers. The world's biggest chip maker said that no other customer accounted for over 10 percent of its revenue.

Intel reported revenue of US$37.59 billion last year, down slightly from 2007, when it posted a record high $38.33 billion in revenue.

The company's annual report also highlights a mobile computing trend Intel talked up much of last year.

Intel microprocessors aimed at mobility, including laptop PCs, netbooks and other wireless devices, accounted for 42 percent of the company's revenue in 2008, up from 38 percent in 2007, Intel said.

Microprocessors for products such as desktop and nettop computers, enterprise servers and workstations accounted for 55 percent of company revenue last year, down from 56 percent a year earlier.

The majority of Intel's revenue last year, 73 percent, was for microprocessors. The rest went for other products Intel sells, including flash memory chips.