Intel’s PC business is up 33 percent thanks to cheap notebooks
We already know that 2020 was a huge year for PC shipments, now Intel is confirming that report with explosive fourth quarter earnings results. The chipmaker says its PC business was up 33 percent compared to last year, with notebook revenue in particular growing by a healthy 30 percent. Intel’s Client Computing Group, which houses its PC products, reached $10.9 billion in revenue during the quarter, a 9 percent jump over last year. What’s most interesting is that the average price for notebooks fell by 15 percent, which tells us that people definitely needed new computers as they faced the COVID-19 pandemic, but they weren’t willing to pay a premium.
Intel’s strong PC sales, along with a surprising 39 percent jump in its Mobileye self-driving technology division, helped the company surpass its revenue expectations from October by $2.6 billion. The company reported $20 billion in revenue for the fourth quarter, with profits of $5.9 billion. Those figures were actually down 1 percent and 15 percent from last year, respectively, but the company is still celebrating.