Notebooks and cloud help Intel push third-quarter revenue past $14bn

Chip giant Intel has reported record third-quarter financials with revenues up 28 per cent year-on-year to top $14bn for the first time, driven by demand for notebooks and cloud computing.

The chip maker reported revenue of $14.2bn while profits stood at a whopping $3.5bn, up 17 per cent from the previous year.

In a clear sign that rumours of the PC's death have been greatly exaggerated, the PC Client group was the best performing with revenue of $9.4bn, up 22 per cent year-on-year.

The Data Center Group also thrived in the quarter on the demand for cloud and mobile computing, posting revenue of $2.5bn, a rise of 15 per cent year-on-year.

"Intel delivered record-setting results again in Q3, surpassing $14bn in revenue for the first time, driven largely by double-digit unit growth in notebook PCs," said Paul Otellini, Intel president and chief executive.

"We also saw continued strength in the datacentre fuelled by the ongoing growth of mobile and cloud computing."

However, Intel's Atom chips fared less well, with revenue dropping by a third year-on-year to £269m.

The results will be a shot in the arm to Intel as it aims to take advantage of macro trends in the computing space which have seen the impetus move away from its traditional strength in PC-based machines and towards tablets and mobile devices.

The chip giant is hoping its next-generation chips from Sandy Bridge, through to the forthcoming Ivy Bridge and Haswell, will help it compete in the tablet market, and has already put Sandy Bridge design into Samsung's Windows 8 developer tablets handed out at Microsoft Build.