In January, Intel CEO Paul Otellini told investors that, while 2010 was at that time its best year on record financially speaking, 2011 promised to be even better.
Now, with a chain of five record quarters behind him, and another delivered Tuesday, Intel’s (NASDAQ: INTC) chief appears to be on track to hit that mark.
That makes the chip titan’s sixth record quarter in a row.
However, the Santa Clara, Calif.-based chip maker not only posted its first quarter ever where non-GAAP revenues topped $14 billion — $14.3 billion to be exact — a gain of 29 percent over the same quarter a year ago.
It also turned in record non-GAAP diluted earnings per share (EPS) of $0.69, up $0.17 from the year ago quarter, representing growth of 33 percent.
The company, according to Otellini, also broke new records for CPU shipments.
“Intel delivered record-setting results again in Q3, surpassing $14 billion in revenue for the first time, driven largely by double-digit unit growth in notebook PCs,” Otellini said in a statement. “We also saw continued strength in the data center fueled by the ongoing growth of mobile and cloud computing,” he added.
The company also broke records for operating income and net income — both non-GAAP, company statements said.
Operating income, for instance, was up $895 million to $5.1 billion, a jump of 22 percent over 2010’s third quarter. Additionally, net income came in at $3.7 billion, a gain of $705 million or 24 percent.
For those pundits who have declared the death of Intel and the arrival of the “post-PC era,” Intel had an unsubtle message — not so fast.
The company’s PC Client Group had revenue of $9.4 billion, which was up 22 percent over last year. Intel’s Data Center Group also delivered growth — $2.5 billion — a gain of 15 percent — while Atom CPUs, which were popular in so-called “netbooks,” declined 32 percent, year-over-year, to $269 million.
Investors seemed pleased by Intel’s results.
Intel shares were up in after hours trading at $24.50, breaking the stock’s previous 52-week high of $23.96, a gain of $1.22 or 5.24 percent.
Stuart J. Johnston is a contributing editor at InternetNews.com, the news service of Internet.com, the network for technology professionals. Follow him on Twitter @stuartj1000.
