Intel Q4 Results Down, But 32nm Process on Track

From DailyTech: ntel released its results for the fourth quarter of 2008 yesterday - it was only the second time in 20 years that Q4 results were worse than Q3 results.

Q4 revenue was $8.2 billion, down from $10.7 billion last year. Operating income was $1.5 billion, and net income was only $234 million. Earnings per share was 4 cents, down 90% from last year. The results included a billion dollar write-off in Intel's investment in Clearwire.

Over $1.8 billion was spent on CAPEX (capital expenditures) in Q4. CAPEX are used by a company to acquire or upgrade physical assets such as equipment, property, or industrial buildings.

Average Selling Prices (ASP) and gross margins were down due to Fab underutilization, inventory write downs, and the shift from notebooks to Atom and netbooks. Chipset sales by revenue in the Digital Enterprise group were almost half of last year's result.

Intel has only missed earnings estimates once in the last five quarters. The fallout from lower corporate spending is obviously dire, as the most profitable Intel products are in the corporate server space. There was a $250 million charge due to fab underutilization, as Intel now has three Fabs producing at 45nm on 300mm lines. These are Fab 32 in Chandler, Arizona, Fab 28 in Kiryat Gat, Israel, and Fab 11x in Rio Rancho, New Mexico.

View: Article @ Source Site