Intel’s PC chip sales rise 2 percent as desktop shipments grow

The quarterly revenue of Intel’s Client Computing Group increased by 2 percent, partly due to an increase in desktop deliveries. Intel also reports that the first 7nm processors will appear in early 2022.

Intel delivered 7 percent more processors for desktops in the fourth quarter, probably because many companies switched to Windows 10 in 2019 and bought new computers in the process. The average price of a delivered Intel desktop processor did fall, by 4 percent. In terms of laptops, Intel delivered 1 percent fewer processors than in the fourth quarter of 2018. The average price of mobile processors delivered remained the same. This is evident from the publication of Intel’s quarterly figures.

The Client Computing Group’s quarterly revenue reached $10 billion and in addition to increased desktop shipments, modem shipments, such as Wi-Fi chipsets, grew. Intel reports that processor shortages impacted PC shipments, but the company will get rid of them in 2020, it promises.

Intel also announced during the discussion of the quarterly figures that the first 7nm processors should appear in early 2022, shortly after the arrival of the first 7nm product at the end of 2021. That will be the Xe GPU for data centers, called Ponte Vecchio. After 7nm in 2021, 7nm+ will follow in 2022 and 7nm++ in 2023, Intel said in May last year.

Intel’s total quarterly revenue came in at a record $20.2 billion, up 8 percent from the same period last year. Net income for the quarter was $6.9 billion, an increase of 33 percent. Annual revenue was $72 billion. The Data Center Group, in particular, performed well in the fourth quarter, with sales up 19 percent to $7.2 billion. Internet-of-things is now turning in $1.16 billion at Intel, a growth of 16 percent.