Intel, the world's largest computer chip maker, made an after-tax profit of $2 billion (€1.84 billion) on a turnover of $7.1 billion (€6.53 billion) in the first quarter of 1999, the second best quarter in the firm's history.
The profit figure represents a 54 per cent increase on the same period last year for the company which employs 4,100 people in Leixlip, Co Kildare.
But the company predicts turnover for the second quarter will be slightly down, "due to seasonal factors".
The first-quarter earnings of 57 US cents per share were adjusted for a two-for-one stock split paid on April 11th and represent a 58 per cent increase, from the 36 US cents per share earnings in the first quarter of 1998. They were slightly above Wall Street expectations of 55 US cents per share. Intel's best quarterly results were for the three months to December 26th last, when it made a pre-tax profit of $3.1 billion on a $7.6 billion turnover, but there is a traditional trading slump in the first quarter of each year.
An Intel Ireland spokesman said the company had seen unprecedented demand for its latest technology and that the contribution of the Asia Pacific region to Intel's revenues was the highest on record.
Intel expects that gross margin percentage in the second quarter - the margin between turnover and cost of sales - to be "approximately flat" at 59 per cent but the spokesman added that it was in line with normal trends.
