Intel 2008 Finances Announced: Poor Q4, But Overall Good

Intel have announced their 2008 Q4 and annual financial results, and while the year ended with something of a droop, the overall performance was good.  Q4 revenue and operating income were both down sequentially, the former down 19-percent to $8.2bn while the latter down a full 50-percent to $1.5bn, leading to a quarterly net income of $234m.  However operating income over the full year was up 9-percent, to $9bn.

2008 revenue, in fact, was $37.6bn; that can either be viewed as a dip of 2-percent, or – if you take into account divestitures (disposal of assets) – slightly up.  Gross margin was up too, by 3.5-percent over 2007, at 55-percent.  The company's annual net income was $5.3bn.

Intel took a significant hit – in the region of $1bn – over its Clearwire investments, which dropped in value.  However company execs are confident about future performance, and with their Atom chips sweeping the still-popular netbook market and their Core i7 high-end processors doing well in the gaming and performance markets, it seems their confidence may be well-placed.