Intel Corp has joined the chorus of companies that see no immediate signs of any downturn, with chief financial officer Robert Reed telling analysts in Boston that the Santa Clara, California company will finish 1987 with a good last quarter and will produce net profits for 1987 well past 1984’s record $198m. Turnover will reach $1,800m against $1,260m for 1986, on which Intel made a loss of $173m. Needless to say the fuel for this happy picture has been the 80386 microprocessor, supply of which is lagging way behind demand, to the point where Compaq was saying this week that it could sell plenty more of its top-end machines if only it could get more of the chips, and was even losing business to competitors as a result (CI No 828). Intel, said Read, is increasing production of the 80386 and expects supply to catch up with demand around the middle of next year. One worry about Intel has been the possibility that IBM would activate its manufacturing rights for the 80386 microprocessor – and other 8086 parts for that matter – but Reed said that there seemed to be no likelihood that IBM would start fabricating the chip in the near future. Read also noted that Intel had increased output of the 386 at a faster rate than for any previous chip, and was hitting 1987 targets.
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