Intel Corp said results for the fourth quarter will be better than it had anticipated due to strong demand for PC products across all market segments and geographies. When the company announced third quarter earnings, it predicted fourth-quarter revenue would be up slightly from the third level of $6.7bn. The company is now saying it expects an 8%-10% increase from the preceding quarter. Current expectations also call for gross margins in the fourth quarter to be up a couple of points from 53% last time, while expenses will also rise approximately 8% to 10% from $1.4bn in the prior quarter. The company says it’s still making progress on reducing headcount and it expects to be within a few hundred people of its previously-announced headcount reduction target of approximately 3,000 employees by the end of the year. R&D spending for the fourth quarter should stand at roughly $650m, interest and other income should be about $200m, up from prior guidance of $160m, and the tax rate is expected to be 33.0%. Capital spending for 1998 is expected to be approximately $4.2bn – including the acquisition of the capital assets of Digital Equipment Corp’s semiconductor manufacturing operations.
