Intel reports record $60bn revenues for 2016

Cost of building ever-more sophisticated factories affects profitability, however

Intel has reported full-year revenues for 2016 up seven per cent to $59.4bn, crediting sales of desktop and laptop computer microprocessors in a year that was otherwise not especially stellar for PC makers.

It also claimed a solid demand for data centre CPUs, and a burgeoning Internet of Things (IoT) chip business.

Intel also posted a record $16.4bn in revenue for the fourth quarter, an increase of 10 per cent, year on year.

However, Intel's net income for the year fell by 10 per cent to $10.9bn, which the company attributes to spending on factories as a result of the move to 10nm that starts this year, an increase in warranty and IP charges and Non-Volatile Memory Solutions Group margins. Profits for the fourth quarter remained stable at $3.6bn.

Nevertheless, CEO Brian Krzanich was pleased with the firm's latest results.

"The fourth quarter was a terrific finish to a record-setting and transformative year for Intel. In 2016, we took important steps to accelerate our strategy and refocus our resources while also launching exciting new products, successfully integrating Altera, and investing in growth opportunities," he said.

He added: "I'm pleased with our 2016 performance and confident in our future."

Despite a continued decline in PC sales, Intel's Client Computing Group, which provides CPUs, SoCs and connectivity products for desktop and laptop computers, took home revenues of $32.9bn in 2016, up to per cent, and of $9.1bn for Q4, up four per cent from a year ago.

The firm's Data Centre Group, which provides server chips, was the firm's best-performing division, bringing home full-year revenues of $17.2bn, up from $16bn in the year-ago quarter, and revenues of $4.7bn in Q4, up three per cent year-on-year.

Intel's IoT group, one of the areas the firm is focusing its efforts in a bid to accelerate growth, saw raked in full-year revenues of $2.6bn, up 15 per cent from $2.3bn a year ago. Revenue for this quarter was up 5 per cent to $726m.

Revenue for Intel's Non-Volatile Memory Solution Group came in at $2.6bn, down one per cent from 2015, while Intel's security group posted revenue of $2.2bn, an increase of nine per cent. The programmable solutions group posted revenue of $1.7 billion.

For the first quarter of 2017, Intel forecasts revenue of $14.8 billion and gross margin percentage of 62 percent.