PC market continues to improve

Intel and AMD post strong Q3 figures

The PC market continues its steady march to recovery following strong third-quarter results from chip makers Intel and AMD.

Intel posted Q3 revenue of $7.8bn, up by 15 per cent on Q2's $6.8bn and 20 per cent on the $6.5bn it posted in Q3 2002. The firm claimed a Q3 profit of $1.7bn, up by a massive 79 per cent on Q2 and 150 per cent on the same period last year.

"Revenue showed the best sequential growth the company has seen for Q3 in 25 years," said Andy Bryant, chief financial and enterprise services officer at Intel.

At AMD, Q3 turnover came in at $954m, up by 48 per cent on the previous quarter and up by 88 per cent on Q3 last year. The company also managed to reduce its operating loss to $31m, down from $254m for the same period in 2002.

"We delivered strong sales growth in our microprocessor and Flash memory business lines while tightly managing our expense structure," said Robert Rivet, AMD's chief financial officer.

"Sales were up on a global basis, reflecting increased demand in each of our major businesses and all geographic regions."

Intel was typically cautious, saying that future sales may not be so bright, and the corporate market remains weak.

But both AMD and Intel are predicting sales increases for the busy Q4 period, with AMD claiming that demand for its newly launched Athlon 64 is already very strong.

"Business is picking up overall in the PC sector and we are optimistic for Q4," said Matthew Wilkins, senior analyst at iSuppli.

"The corporate PC cycle is improving - just look at Intel's Q3 revenues and you can see it's too much to be just consumer spending.

"Intel's caution in its future outlook is mainly to prevent the stock market from running out of control. It saves it from getting into hot water later on."