Chipmaker Intel’s quarterly revenue surpasses expectation

Intel Corp, the world’s largest semiconductor maker, predicted higher second- quarter sales than some analysts had estimated as it ships new personal computer and server chips, and shortages of hard drives abate.

Sales in the current period will be $13.6bn (€10.35bn), plus or minus $500m, the company said last night.

Analysts on average had estimated revenue of $13.43bn, according to Bloomberg data. Sales were $13.03bn a year earlier. Intel is bringing to market updated chip designs, and its PC-maker customers are expanding their lines of slim Ultrabook computers, created to generate consumer interest in laptops, said Patrick Wang, an analyst at Evercore Partners.