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Technology Stocks : Intel Corporation (INTC) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: chuckie who wrote (54236)	4/22/1998 10:53:00 PM
From: lanac	Respond to of 186894

Look the market for sub$1000 computers is not even that big as it was supoosed to be NTEL UNVEILS PLANS FOR NEW PRODUCTS NEW YORK -(Dow Jones)- Intel Corp. told analysts of plans for several new products, making a case that the chip maker's growth would soon kick into a higher gear again. Executives of the Santa Clara, Calif., company, speaking at an annual analysts meeting in New York, argued that a 36% decline in first-quarter profit reflected a temporary inventory problem that should begin to subside in the second quarter. Sean Maloney, Intel's vice president of sales and marketing, said strong sales to North American distributors and in the Chinese and Indian markets are offsetting a problem of chip inventory building up among U.S. computer makers and in some other Asian markets. He said better inventory-management practices, such as automated ordering processes that replenish supplies only when absolutely necessary, also should help address the problem. Intel executives also cited new technology that should help spur growth at both the high and low ends of the market. Craig Barrett, the company's president and chief executive officer-elect, said a microprocessor dubbed Katmai, to be introduced in the first half of 1999, will achieve a processing speed of 500 megahertz, a breakthrough for the company. He also confirmed speculation that Intel next year will integrate auxilliary chips for handling graphics and logic functions into one piece of silicon, a move that could threaten dozens of smaller graphics-chip makers. The company's optimistic comments, along with a positive reaction to International Business Machines Corp.'s financial results Monday, sent Intel shares higher in heavy trading. The shares rose $2.4375 to $78.9375 on the Nasdaq Stock Market. Intel's growth has been held down by several factors, including its slow entry into the market for sub-$1,000 personal computers and a shortage of software that needs big increases in computing performance. Michael Aymar, vice president of consumer products, predicted that one positive development will be the release of a Microsoft Corp. program called Chrome, which uses three-dimensional graphics in navigating the World Wide Web. That program, due for release early next year, will require at least a 350-megahertz microprocessor, near the top of Intel's current product line. Mr. Aymar said PCs priced at less than $1,200 accounted for only 27% of the overall market and aren't nearly as popular overseas or in the business market as among U.S. consumers. He expects demand to be fueled by first-time computer buyers overseas; by one Intel survey, there are an estimated 160 million consumers world-wide who want to buy a computer. He added that consumers are purchasing computers more frequently, buying a new one every 4.3 years instead of the 5.1 years several years ago. Mr. Aymar demonstrated a couple of games to illustrate PC directions. In one, a user could track the flight of a firefly through a surreal insect world. "When we can deliver that kind of animated experience on the PC, that will keep consumers coming back," he said. Intel's Mr. Barrett said the company's Celeron product for low-end computers has picked up support among dozens of computer makers, including most of the local market leaders around the globe. That support comes despite poor reviews for Intel's first version of the chip, which is slower than rival offerings. By the fourth quarter, Intel will try to correct that problem by offering a faster chip, code-named Mendocino, and it will expand its offerings next year. Mr. Barrett predicted that the speed of the Celeron family will increase from a speed of 266-megahertz today to 333 megahertz by the middle of next year. Analysts who attended the meeting reacted favorably, though they are eager to see additional evidence of a short-term turnaround. "They made a decent case for fundamental growth," said John Geraghty, analyst at Credit Suisse First Boston in New York. "We'll see what happens as they settle the inventory question."