LONDON – Intel Corp. has lowered its forecast for its third quarter revenue and said that it will reduce capital spending for 2012 below the previous minimum estimate of $12.1 billion. In a statement Intel put the lowered revenue forecast down to weak demand due to "a challenging macroeconomic environment."
Intel said it is now predicting 3Q12 revenue of between $12.9 billion and $13.5 billion, compared to the previous expectation of between $13.8 billion and $14.8 billion. The change is a reduction of 7.7 percent in the mid-point of the forecasts.
Intel said that its customers are reducing inventory in the supply chain, in contrast to the normal growth in third-quarter inventory in advance of the equipment builds for the holiday buying season. Intel said there is softness in the enterprise PC market segment; and demand in emerging markets is slowing. However, the data center business is meeting expectations.
The company said that its estimates for R&D and marketing, general and administrative spending in 2012 remain unchanged but that its full-year capital expenditure is now expected to be below the previous outlook of between $12.1 billion and $12.9 billion. Intel said it would accelerate the re-use of existing equipment for the 14-nm manufacturing process node.
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