HispanicBusiness

Intel posted a 5 per cent rise in third-quarter net income Tuesday despite tough economic conditions and shift away from personal computers, the mainstay of Intel's business.

The world's largest maker of computer chips posted sales of 13.5 billion, the same as in the year-ago quarter. Net income was 3 billion dollars, up 5 per cent on the year.

"Our third-quarter results reflected a continuing tough economic environment," said Paul Otellini, Intel president and chief executive. "The world of computing is in the midst of a period of breakthrough innovation and creativity."

Looking to the fourth quarter, he said the company was pleased with sales of light and thin Ultrabooks and phones that use Intel processors and excited about the range of Intel-based tablets coming to market.

Sales in the company's PC client group were 8.6 billion dollars, representing an 8 per cent drop compared to the same quarter a year ago. This reflected reduced demand for PCs due both to the imminent release of Windows 8 and the increased popularity of tablet and mobile devices which do not run on Intel processors.

Intel's Data Center Group posted revenue of 2.7 billion dollars, up 6 per cent year-over-year, Intel said.