Intel Q3 profit up 12 percent to $2 billion

Intel announced a profit of $2 billion in the third-quarter, or 35 cents per share, on a revenue of $10.22 billion. Revenue is up 1% from $10.1 billion last year but Intel managed to increase its margins as net profit is up 12 percent from $1.8 billion a year ago.

The chip giant beat analyst expectations by 1 cent a share but the revenue was slightly lower than expected. Intel highlighted the strong sales of the Atom, stating sales of this small chip for netbook and nettop systems totaled roughly $200 million. For the current quarter, Intel expects sales between $10.1 billion and $10.9 billion but it states uncertainty in global economic conditions makes it hard to predict their future revenue:

For the current quarter, Intel said it expects revenue of between $10.1 billion and $10.9 billion. Analysts expect Intel to report revenue of $10.8 billion, according to FactSet Research.

The company also noted that "current uncertainty in global economic conditions makes it particularly difficult to predict product demand and other related matters and makes it more likely that Intel's actual results could differ materially from expectations."

In a sign of the economic uncertainty faced by most tech companies, Intel also said it expects its research and development spending for 2008 to be at roughly $5.9 billion, lower than the previous target of $6 billion.