Intel, one of the world’s largest chipmakers, has announced a 90 percent drop in fourth -quarter profit, not surprisingly considering the economic recession and analyst predictions. The company noted that these results also include a $1 billion negative impact from the reduction in the carrying value of its Clearwire investments.

 

Paul Otellini, Intel president and CEO, said the company is still focusing on its fundamental business strategies, despite an uncertain environment. The economy and the industry are in the process of resetting to a new baseline from which growth will resume, Otellini explained.

 

Intel announced an overall revenue in 2008 of $37.6 billion, an operating income of $9 billion, a net income of $5.3 billion and EPS of 92 cents. Furthermore, its report also includes $11 billion in cash generated from operations, and paid cash dividends of $3.1 billion.

 

The company’s revenue went down 2 percents compared to last year, but adjusted for divestitures, it was ‘up slightly’ in 2008, while the gross margin was 55.5 percent, up from 52 percent in 2007.

 

As Otellini pointed out, Intel has been through difficult periods in the past, and this has never stopped them from going forward. Our new technologies and new products will help us ignite market growth and thrive when the economy recovers, Otellini said.

 

Looking at the bright side of things, Intel’s microprocessor units, server revenue and mobile microprocessor revenue, as well as its chipset and wireless connectivity products, achieved new revenue records.