Intel raises outlook for its 3rd quarter

Intel Corp. boosted its third-quarter sales forecast Monday amid stronger-than-expected demand for its microprocessors.

The announcement came the day rival Advanced Micro Devices Inc., a smaller chip maker that has struggled financially in recent quarters, hoped to own the headlines with the launch of its new server chip.

Intel added $200 million to the top of its financial outlook, saying it now expected sales of $9.4 billion to $9.8 billion in the current quarter. That compares with the previous forecast of $9.0 billion to $9.6 billion.

Santa Clara, Calif.-based Intel also told investors that it expected profit to be at the upper range of the company’s previous guidance. Gross profit margin, a key measure of Intel’s profitability, is expected to be within the upper half of the previous estimate of 52% of revenue, plus or minus a couple of percentage points.

Intel cited higher demand worldwide for its products for the upgrade. Intel’s and AMD’s primary products are microprocessors, which act as the core calculating engines in computers.

Intel shares fell 12 cents to $25.35 on Monday. AMD shares rose 33 cents to $12.94.

The brightened financial forecast came as AMD was preparing to launch events around the world Monday for its newest Opteron brand server chip, the biggest overhaul to the Sunnyvale, Calif., company’s product lineup since the first Opteron chip was introduced in 2003 and gave AMD a foothold in the lucrative server market.