Intel had a pleasant surprise for financial analysts today: in a press release, the PC processor maker reported that it generated $13.9 billion in revenue for the three month period that ended on December 31, 2011. That"s up 22 percent from the same period a year ago and well ahead of predictions by financial analysts.
Some of the analysts had thought that Intel"s revenues for the fourth quarter might be affected by the PC hard drive shortages that are currently hitting the entire PC industry. Intel did not mention anything about the hard drive shortage in its press release.
Intel recorded net income of $3.4 billion for the last quarter, up 11 percent from the same period a year ago, and for the full 2011 calendar year, Intel had $54 billion in revenues, up 24 percent from 2010. It had a net income of $13.7 billion for 2011, up 19 percent from the same period a year ago.
The press release quotes Intel CEO and president Paul Otellini as saying, "With a tremendous product and technology pipeline for 2012, we’re excited about the global growth opportunities presented by Ultrabook systems, the data center, security and the introduction of Intel-powered smartphones and tablets."