Commenting on a period in which margins were off 2.7%, Intel Corp says that its net cash position, short- and long-term investments less short- and long-term debt, fell by $53m in the third quarter to $3,370m, and was down by $257m in the nine months. Capital spending was $540m in the quarter and the company got through $473m of working capital. The company blamed lower lower volumes as well as lower average selling prices for some older microprocessors for the margin slippage, but said sales Pentium chips are robust and it expects to ship 6m to 7m of them by year-end, or within weeks of year-end, a goal it set half a year ago. It also expects Pentiums to account for 25% of all the chips it ships by the end of the current quarter.
