Thursday, Jul 10, 2014
Dubai
Intel is hopeful of gaining more market share and boosting revenues as semiconductor chips are getting smaller with greater performance and boosting battery life.
“We have a roadmap that stretches out to 2016 with different chipsets we are working on,” Nassir Nauthoa, General Manager for Intel Gulf, told Gulf News.
The chipmaker’s PC business, which used to be the main cash cow, has suffered a fall for many quarters due to weak demand arising from the cannibalization of mobile devices like smartphone and tablets.
Intel has raised its outlook for the second quarter and the full year due to a rebound in PC sales by businesses.
Intel now expects second-quarter revenue of $13.7 billion, plus or minus $300 million. Intel had previously forecast revenue of $13 billion, plus or minus $500 million.
Intel is expected to report its second-quarter results on July 15.
Nauthoa said that the Europe has done pretty well in the last few quarter in the PC business, part of that is driven by Windows XP refresher.
Microsoft had stopped support for Windows XP on April 8 this year, that means no more security updates or technical support for the 12-year old operating system.
“The growth is going to come from tablets. We entered the smartphone business very recently. Having said that, we have long-term agreements with Lenovo, and Asus will be launching some models this year. We are in discussions with other companies also,” he said.
He said that Intel has made great progress in chipsets and will be launching 14nm architecture with embedded 4G LTE by the end of this year.
This year, he said that 130 new Intel-based Windows and Android tablets are hitting the shelves this year from other equipment manufacturers and branded manufacturers.
According to research firm International Data Corporation, tablets with smaller screen sizes (7 to 8 inches) will see growing demand in the Middle East and are expected to account for approximately 55 per cent of tablet shipments in 2014 in the region.
“The Core M processor, built on 14nm technology, will enrich great graphics and great battery life and great performance and it will used in ultra-thin two-in-one devices (tablet/laptop combo),” Nauthoa said.
When asked whether we are getting too connected, he said it is inevitable. “We want people to get connected to their devices and increase their user experience. It is not that we wanted; it is how the landscape is evolving,” he said.
He said all the devices are going to be inter connected and the new wave of computing devices is going to be smarter.
The company’s CEO had said that Intel is on track to sell 40 million tablet chips this year after shipping five million chips in the first quarter. It sold around 10 million chips in 2013.
According to IDC, the 2014 worldwide tablet plus 2-in-1 forecast has been lowered to 245.4 million units, down from the previous forecast of 260.9 million units.
The new forecast represents a 12.1 per cent year-over-year growth rate, which is notably lower than the 51.8 per cent year-over-year growth of 2013 as consumers are keeping their tablets, especially higher-cost models from major vendors, far longer than originally anticipated.
Currently, Android-on-Intel tablets’ costs are already lower than those of the same level Android-on-ARM models.
According to Digitimes Research, 60 per cent of Intel’s shipments will be adopted in Android-based models because the Android-on-Intel tablet is the main focus of Intel for 2014. Intel started offering technology support, marketing subsidies and CPU price cuts for Android-on-Intel tablets in the second half of 2013 and has been nurturing China’s supply chain to provide low-price components.
Digitimes Research expects 65 per cent of Intel’s tablet AP shipments to go to brand vendors because their shipments are more stable and the two sides have been cooperating over notebook products for a long time.
“The remaining 35 per cent will be shipped to China’s white-box players. In addition to providing the same subsidies to white-box players, Intel is also investing in China’s supply chain to gain white-box players’ trust,” Digitimes Research said in a statement.
By Naushad K Cherrayil Staff Reporter
Gulf News 2014. All rights reserved.
