Quarterly figures Intel gives investors hope with sales forecast
The loss-making semiconductor giant Intel has positively surprised Wall Street with its sales forecast for the current quarter. The shares, which have been badly shaken in recent months, rose by around seven percent in US after-hours trading.
01.11.2024, 06:57
SDA
Intel forecast revenues of between 13.3 and 14.3 billion dollars for the current quarter. Analysts had expected an average of 13.6 billion dollars (12.5 billion euros).
In the previous quarter, Intel sales fell by six percent year-on-year to 13.3 billion dollars.
Huge write-down on equipment
The bottom line was a loss of 16.6 billion dollars due to depreciation and charges in connection with the ongoing company restructuring. A year ago, Intel had still made a profit of 300 million dollars.
Depreciation and amortization reached 15.9 billion dollars. Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger said on CNBC that they were partly due to the fact that equipment had built up from the times of the coronavirus pandemic that was no longer needed. The reason: At that time, a continuation of the temporary surge in demand for PCs was expected. At the beginning of the pandemic, notebooks in particular were in short supply because everyone was working and studying from home. But then PC sales fell again.
Problems for years
Intel once dominated the semiconductor market, but has been struggling with problems for years. Graphics card specialist Nvidia has conquered a leading position, particularly in the business with chips for artificial intelligence. Intel is trying to hold its own - but sales of the competitor chip Gaudi have so far fallen short of expectations and will miss the targeted mark of 500 million dollars this year. Intel is also under greater pressure in its traditional business with PC processors and chips for data centers.
Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger has been trying for years to move the company forward with new technologies and plants. As the change will take time, he wants to reduce costs by ten billion dollars and cut more than 16,000 jobs in the process.
As part of the cost-cutting measures, Intel also decided last quarter to postpone the construction of a planned chip factory near Magdeburg for an estimated two years.
