Intel has posted stronger than expected third-quarter financial results, indicating a recovery from the effects of the economic downturn.
Intel's earnings for the quarter were down 8% on the same period in 2008 in contrast with drops of 15% in the previous quarter and 26% in the first quarter compared with the year before.
See also: Intel talks of "momentum" and things look a little better
Revenues of $9.4bn were well ahead of Intel's $9bn mid-point forecast in August and the $9.06bn expected by Wall Street.
Earnings per share of 33 cents a share were above analyst expectations of 28 cents a share, according to Thomson Reuters.
"Intel's strong third-quarter results underscore that computing is essential to people's lives, proving the importance of technology innovation in leading an economic recovery," said Paul Otellini, Intel president and CEO.
"This momentum in the current economic climate, plus our product leadership, gives us confidence about our business prospects going forward. As we look ahead, Intel's game-changing 32nm process technology will usher in another wave of innovation from new, powerful Intel Xeon server platforms to high-performance Intel Core processors to low-power Intel Atom processors."
Intel's Mobility Group that supplies chips for laptops and netbooks performed the best with sales up 19%, while business sales rose 14%.
Otellini said that while netbooks should see significant growth in 2010 over 2009, the notebook market is still flourishing.
The release of Windows 7 on 22 October is expected to boost sales further as businesses upgrade to the new operating system, many of them from Windows XP and not Vista.
Intel shares rose nearly 5% in after-hours trading to $21.48, which comes after a nearly 35% rise since the beginning of the year, according to the Financial Times.
Warwick Ashford, Computer Weekly