Intel Sets Quarterly Sales, Profit Records

Intel Corp., riding a wave of prosperity on the success of its microprocessors, reported Friday that quarterly revenue exceeded $1 billion for the first time, if only by a fraction, and earnings reached a record $172 million.

Revenue for the third quarter ended Sept. 29 was up 31% over the same quarter of last year.

Net income was up 139% from last year.

For the first nine months of 1990, revenue was up 29% to $2.9 billion, and earnings rose 81% to $486 million.

The results marked the second consecutive quarter in which Santa Clara-based Intel set new records for revenue and profit.

Intel is benefiting from successfully establishing its family of microprocessors--the tiny chips that form the brain inside computers--as the standard for most personal computers.

Demand is now so strong for the latest, most advanced members of the Intel family, the 80386 and the 80486 microprocessors, that Intel has not been able to keep up with it.

The company is believed to be selling the products at profit margins as high as 80% to 90%.

Intel said it expects the supply bottleneck for the 386 and 486 products to be alleviated by the end of the year.