UPDATE: Intel Finds Chip-Design Issue; Adjusts Its Revenue View
31 Janeiro 2011 - 3:15PM
Dow Jones News
Intel Corp. (INTC) discovered a design issue in a recently
released chipset, dealing a setback to the ramp of its new
microprocessor and resulting in charges and a reduction in
first-quarter revenue.
Meanwhile, the Santa Clara, Calif., chip maker adjusted its
quarterly and year guidance to adjust for the issue as well as for
contributions from a couple acquisitions. Intel shares slumped 1%
on the news, while competitor Advanced Micro Devices Inc.'s (AMD)
stock jumped more than 5%.
Intel recently released its second-generation core
processors--code-named Sandy Bridge--that combine graphics and
computing on a single piece of silicon. The company sees the new
chips helping it gain even more traction against AMD, which has
developed a similar chip line of its own.
But Intel said Monday that a new chipset, which connects the
Sandy Bridge processors to the other parts of the PC system, has a
design flaw that causes some Serial-ATA ports in the chipset to
degrade over time, potentially causing hard-disk drives and DVD
drives to malfunction.
Intel said the issue doesn't affect Sandy Bridge itself or any
other products, and a company spokesman was confident Intel will be
able to resolve the problem quickly. He added that the chipset
error typically isn't an issue that would show up in PCs for two to
five years.
"As long as it's not a problem with Sandy Bridge itself, which
it doesn't sound like it is, it's not catastrophic in the long
term," Bernstein analyst Stacy Rasgon said. "They have a solution
in place, and now they just need to take care of it."
Intel shares, up 9.6%, over the past 12 months, recently slipped
about 1% to $21.28.
AMD, meanwhile, grew 5.1% to $7.87 on hopes Intel's difficulties
could help it gain share. The company has already released one of
its combination chips for netbooks and low-end notebooks, and its
chip for mainstream computing will be released late in the second
quarter.
AMD declined to comment Monday.
The chipset is used in the Intel's latest second-generation
Intel core processors. Intel said it has stopped shipments of the
affected chip from its factories, has corrected the design issue
and has started making a new version of the chip that will resolve
the issue. Intel said it expects a "full volume recovery" in
April.
Intel said it expects the design issue to cut its first-quarter
revenue by about $300 million, though it isn't expected to hurt
full-year revenue. The company pegged the cost to repair and
replace the affected materials and systems in the market at about
$700 million.
An Intel spokesman said the $300 million isn't because of
reduced shipments for Sandy Bridge; rather, it is due to the
chipsets and potential rework of motherboards and other issues.
Intel also updated its revenue outlook to include the
acquisitions of Infineon Technologies AG's (IFX.XE) wireless
business and McAfee Inc. (MFE), saying it now expects first-quarter
revenue to range between $11.3 billion and $12.1 billion, compared
with its prior view of $11.1 billion to $11.9 billion. The Infineon
deal closed Monday, and Intel said it expects the McAfee deal to
close by the end of the first quarter.
The company also said it expects first-quarter gross margin to
be 61%, plus or minus a couple of percentage points, compared with
its previous forecast of 64%, plus or minus a couple of percentage
points.
It also adjusted its fourth-quarter gross margin by about 4
percentage points from the previously reported 67.5% because the
issue affected some of the chipset units shipped and produced in
the fourth quarter.
For the full year, Intel projects revenue growth in the mid- to
high teens, compared to its previous expectation of 10%.
Intel has been busy on the acquisition front of late, announcing
in August that it would buy McAfee for $7.68 billion. It bought the
Infineon unit for $1.4 billion.
The company has posted record revenue and profits in recent
quarters, helped by a surge in demand for tech products following a
pullback in spending during the recession. Its exposure to the
enterprise market has buffered it of late from relatively weak
consumer demand for PCs.
-By Shara Tibken, Dow Jones Newswires; 212-416-2189;
shara.tibken@dowjones.com
(Nathan Becker contributed to this report.)
Mcafee (NYSE:MFE)
Gráfico Histórico do Ativo
De Ago 2024 até Set 2024
Mcafee (NYSE:MFE)
Gráfico Histórico do Ativo
De Set 2023 até Set 2024