Intel targets mobile growth, flat sales expected in 2014

Intel has forecast flat sales in 2014, as the chipmaker struggles to grow in the mobile market in order to offset the slowdown in PCs. At an investor meeting, CFO Stacy Smith said the PC market, measured in units, is expected to be down in the "low single-digit" percent next year still. The company expects its gross margin to remain in its target range of 55-65 percent, and capital spending in 2014 will be little changed from 2013 at around USD 11 billion, Bloomberg reported. Investments aimed at enabling customers to convert to Intel chips in tablets will hurt total profitability, the CFO said. 

CEO Brian Krzanich said the company needs to speed up the delivery of new products for mobile devices. In the tablet market, the company plans to ship more than 40 million tablet chips in 2014, representing about 15 percent of the tablet market, up from 10 million in 2013, the Financial Times reported from the meeting. Krzanich unveiled plans for a new chip, known as SoFIA, aimed at low-end tablets. Rather than designing it from the ground up, he said Intel would take an existing feature phone product and replace the ARM-based core with an Intel application processor, enabling it to get a product to market much quicker. 

As Intel invests in capacity to make the new mobile products while volumes still remain low, the company is developing plans to share some of its manufacturing facilities with other producers in order to improve utilisation rates. William Holt, head of technology and manufacturing, said the company is opening up foundry capacity to compete with groups such as TSMC and GlobalFoundries. Krzanich added that the company was prepared to open up its most advanced manufacturing capabilities only to companies "prepared to pay for it".