Intel Reports Banner Third Quarter

Despite heavy competition on the dual-core microprocessor front from AMD, Intel late Tuesday reported banner results for its recently ended third fiscal quarter, reporting revenues of $9.96 billion, up 18 percent compared to the same period a year ago. Those hefty sales boosted the chip giant's third-quarter operating income to $3.1 billion, up 31 percent over the comparable 2004 period.

"Execution remained solid as we launched our new to dual core server platform ahead of schedule," Intel CEO Paul Otellini said in a statement released ahead of a teleconference scheduled for late Tuesday.

Intel's earnings announcement came a week after the chip giant officially took the wraps off the long-awaited dual-core version of its Xeon server processor. The device constitutes a much needed weapon for Intel as it fends off AMD, which was first to market and continues to lead in sales of dual-core x86 server parts with its Opteron processor line.Judging by Intel's earnings report, those chips should find eager buyers. Indeed, Intel on Thursday reported that its microprocessor sales for the third quarter set a record high, though there was downward pricing pressure resulting in flat selling prices.

Intel similarly reported record unit sales for PC chipsets, flash memory devices, wireless connectivity parts and processors for cellphones and PDAs. On the downside, Intel said motherboard sales were lower. The company did not quantify sales for any of the categories.

Moving forward, Intel said it expects a healthy fourth quarter, with projected revenues of between $10.2 billion and $5.2 billion.