Intel Corp. posted stronger than expected third quarter results on Tuesday and part of the reason was the company’s Austin-designed Atom processor family.
The world’s largest chip company reported a profit of $1.9 billion, or 33 cents a share, on revenue of $9.4 billion for the quarter ended Sept. 26. The results are down from a year ago, but up significantly from the weak second quarter and better than analysts expected.
Part of Intel’s success story was the low-power Atom processor family that is the leading chip going into lightweight netbook computers. Most of Intel’s estimated 900 workers in Austin are involved with the design, development and support of Atom.
Intel sold $415 million worth of Atom processors and related chips in the quarter, up 15 percent from the second quarter.
ISuppli Corp., the technology market research company, projects that Intel will sell 22.2 million Atom chips this year, up 68 percent from a year ago.
The Atom chip is profitable because it is small and cheap to make, said iSuppli analyst Matthew Wilkins. The processor uses a mature manufacturing process which gives Intel high produce yields and very high profit margins, Wilkins said.
Intel forecast an even stronger fourth quarter with revenue of expected to fall in a range between $9.7 billion and $10.5 billion with higher profit margins.
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