Intel, the biggest maker of microprocessors in the world, has reduced by about a billion dollars its sales forecast for the third quarter. Intel is complaining of lower demand of PCs from corporate customers amid tough economic conditions, informs Bloomberg. Intel now predicts sales of $12.9 to $13.5 billion in the third quarter, compared with a previous forecast of $13.8 to $14.8 billion, the company said in a statement.
According to analysts contacted by Bloomberg, the median estimates show sales of $14.2 billion dollars, higher than company’s forecast. Computer makers reduce their microprocessor order at a time of the year usually marked by an increase in activity before the winter shopping season.
Intel said demand for CPUs used in computers for business clients and orders coming from emerging markets are lower than expected. Comments of the company confirm the negative expectations on the PC market which is apparently stagnant or shrinking this year with the growing popularity of smartphones and tablets, which monopolize consumers’ budgets.
Intel shares closed Friday on the New York stock market down by 3.6% and are in stagnation since the beginning of the year. Shares of Advanced Micro Devices (AMD), Intel’s main rival on the CPU manufacturing segment for PCs, fell by 5.7% and shares of Nvidia, a leading manufacturer of graphics chips, lost 2.4% in value.
Intel anticipates a gross profit margin of 61-63% of sales, more pessimistic than the previous estimate of 63%, and withdrew its forecasts for the current fiscal year. The group estimated in July a revenue growth of 3-5% for 2012.
Microsoft will launch in October a new version of the Windows operating system, the first one developed to run on tablets and PCs, built with a touch-screen interface.
Market research firm Gartner Inc. estimated that the PC market will grow by 2% in 2012 to 372.3 million units sold and by 12% in the next year to over 415 million units sold.
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