Intel ups forecast on booming B2B PC market

Surge in business PC sales prompts chip giant to increase sales and profit projections

There was another fillip for the PC market today, with Intel upping its sales forecasts "as a result of stronger-than-expected demand for business PCs".

The chip giant has revealed it expects to turn over $13.7bn (£8bn) – give or take £300m – in 2014's second quarter. This has been increased from its previous forecast of $13bn, plus or minus $500m. The vendor has also increased its expected gross-margin range by one point to 62 to 66 per cent.

Intel has also projected to show "some revenue growth" across the whole year, where previously it had expected sales to remain flat. The vendor reiterated that "the change in outlook is driven mostly by strong demand for business PCs". Gross margin "is now expected to be in the upper half of the previous range of 61 per cent, give or take a few percentage points".

After a torrid couple of years there have been some welcome positive developments for the PC market in recent months, with the end of support for Windows XP providing some sales impetus. Recent research from Canalys found that the channel has been cashing in as enterprise refresh cycles have begun to kick in across EMEA. IDC is another analyst to have seen an uptick in the client space of late, reporting that the European PC market enjoyed a "recovery surge" in Q1.