Intel hits another record quarter

Chip-maker Intel has announced a record third quarter to its 2018 financial year, with revenue up 19 percent year-on-year to $19.2 billion - thanks, claims interim chief executive Bob Swan, to strong demand across its PC and data-centric divisions.

In its latest financial filing, Intel has boasted of $19.2 billion in revenue, up 19 percent year-on-year despite renewed competition from long-term rival and one-time partner AMD, at a healthy 64.5 percent profit margin - itself up 2.2 percentage points over the same period in 2017, suggesting that complaints surrounding the company's pricing structure may not be wide of the mark. With a 13.4 percentage point drop in the company's tax rate, that led to a barn-storming $6.4 billion net income for the quarter - up 42 percent year-on-year.

'Stronger than expected customer demand across our PC and data-centric businesses continued in the third quarter. This drove record revenue and another raise to our full-year outlook, which is now up more than six billion dollars from our January expectations,' crowed Bob Swan, chief financial officer and interim chief executive officer following the departure of former CEO Brian Krzanich earlier this year. 'We are thrilled that in a highly competitive market, customers continue to choose Intel. In the fourth quarter, we remain focused on the challenge of supplying the incredible market demand for Intel products to support our customers' growth. We expect 2018 will be another record year for Intel, and our transformation positions us to win share in an expanded $300 billion total addressable market.'

Impressively, Intel's third quarter saw growth across every single one of its business sectors: The Client Computing Group (CCG) saw 16 percent growth year-on-year to $10.2 billion, contributing as usual the majority share of the company's overall earnings, while the Data Centre Group (DCG) grew 26 percent to $6.1 billion even as rival AMD pushes its many-core Epyc platform heavily. Elsewhere, Intel's Internet of Things Group (IOTG) saw eight percent growth, the Non-Volatile Memory Solutions Group (NSG) grew 21 percent, and the Programmable Solutions Group (PSG) grew six percent.

Intel's share price spiked on the publication of the results, settling up 4.46 percent at $44.31 per share in after-hours trading. The company's full financial report can be found on its investor relations portal.