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Intel looks to Europe
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April 14, 1999: 10:28 a.m. ET
European Internet surge will drive earnings at giant chip maker
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LONDON (CNNfn) - Chip-maker Intel disappointed some investors with talk that second-quarter revenue will be "flat to slightly down," but in an interview with CNNfn.com Wednesday a senior Intel executive said the company is looking for surging European demand to provide the impetus for future growth.
Dave Hazell, director Northern Europe at the chip giant, admitted that conditions will get tougher as 1999 progresses, with the Millennium Bug casting a pall over corporate technology spending.
Large corporate buyers "may start freezing purchases toward the end of the third quarter," he said, as they batten down the hatches in advance of the widely-anticipated problems the turn of the year may bring.
Such groups have long been preparing for the possible problems, and will not want to be spending big dollars until they see the impact of the computer glitch, Hazell told CNNfn.com.
However, he pointed out that some of the slack from the absence of major buyers will be taken up by less well prepared, smaller outfits. Intel expects a rush to upgrade technology among such companies in the run up to the Millennium.
Intel is banking on global growth in personal computer sales of some 13-15 percent this year, with surging demand from Europe making up for softer conditions in the United States. Hazell said Intel is "cautious" on prospects for 2000, and that the growth rate is likely to be slower than in 1999.
The growing popularity of the Internet is one of the factors cited by Hazell for the growing use of PCs in Europe. He pointed to recent research suggesting the number of Internet connections in Europe will outrank the United States by 2002, by which time there are predicted to be some 140 million European Web users.
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Intel
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