Intel, the world's largest computer chipmaker, last night raised its full-year revenue and profit forecasts, helped by strong growth in its data centre business.
For the full year, Intel said it expects to earn, on an adjusted basis, $3.25 per share on revenue of $62 billion, beating analysts' estimate of $3.01 per share on revenue of $61.4 billion, according to Thomson Reuters.
In July, the company had previously forecast full-year adjusted profit of $3 per share on revenue of $61.3 billion.
Revenue from Intel's higher-margin data centre business rose 7% to $4.9 billion in the third quarter, beating analysts' expectation of $4.79 billion, according to financial data and analytics firm FactSet.
Intel, which has been switching its focus to the data centre business, is also venturing into newer areas such as artificial intelligence and driverless cars to reduce its reliance on the PC market.
The chipmaker completed the acquisition of Israeli autonomous vehicle technology firm Mobileye in August to compete with peers such as Qualcomm and Nvidia and tap the fast-growing market of driverless cars.
Revenue from client computing, as Intel calls its PC chip business, remained flat at $8.9 billion. Analysts had expected revenue of $8.68 billion, according to FactSet.
Intel recently launched its Coffee Lake line of processors, which analysts believe will pose challenges for rival Advanced Micro Devices' Ryzen processors.
The company's net income rose to $4.52 billion, or 94 cents per share, in the third quarter ended September 30, from $3.38 billion, or 69 cents per share, a year earlier.
Excluding items, the company earned $1.01 cents per share, beating analysts' estimate of 80 cents per share.
Revenue rose 2.4% to $16.15 billion, beating estimates of $15.73 billion.
