Intel reported strong demand for processors in the quarter, with a nine percent increase in revenue to US$9.67 billion and profits of US$1.4 billion.
The chip giant raised its forecast for gross margins for the year, thanks in part to sustained technical advances in 45nm manufacturing.
Intel chief executive Paul Otellini said in a conference call that the company's geographic reach had helped it benefit from a "strong global environment" boosted by positive sales in Asia.
IBM raised its own profit forecast for the year after posting net profits of US$2.32 billion, an increase of 26 percent from the 2007 period.
Mark Loughridge, chief financial officer at IBM, attributed the better than expected earnings to the use of cost-savings products in the US, as well as help from the weak dollar.
Google easily beat analyst expectations with net profits of US$1.31 billion, an increase of US$1 billion from a year earlier. Revenues for the quarter increased to US$3.7 billion from US$3.61 billion.
However, the week ended badly for AMD, which posted net losses of US$358 million between January and March.
Industry watchers pointed to the late arrival of the company's much anticipated quad-core Opteron processor line up as a contributing factor.
Tech giants post upbeat financials
By
Guy Dixon
on Apr 21, 2008 12:28PM
Three of the tech industry's leading bellwethers have reported better than expected profits for the first quarter, allaying some of the IT investment community's worst fears..
