A stronger-than expected earnings report Thursday lifted Intel shares as investors looked past a troubling computer chip flaw weighing on the US tech giant. Intel shares climbed more than four percent to $47.13 in after-market trades that followed release of its earnings figures, despite its warning of lawsuits, claims, and negative publicity from security vulnerabilities including recently disclosed Spectre and Meltdown flaws.
For the fourth quarter, Intel posted a loss of $700 million due to some $5.4 billion being set aside to pay taxes on repatriation of profits from overseas. Intel reported record revenue of $17.1 billion in the final three months of last year, and said its annual revenue hit an unprecedented high of $62.8 billion. "2017 was a record year for Intel with record fourth-quarter results driven by strong growth of our data-centric businesses," said chief executive Brian Krzanich.
Intel estimated that revenue in the current quarter would be about $15 billion, and for this year to total some $65 billion. Krzanich also said new chips being developed would fix the vulnerabilities disclosed for its current products - flaws which have raised concerns because they are in hardware instead of software. Intel early this week called for a halt in deployment some patches for a troubling vulnerability in its computer chips because they could cause "unpredictable" problems in affected devices.
Intel posted a list of chip models that could be tripped up by the patch, meant to prevent hackers from taking advantage of so-called Meltdown and Spectre flaws to steal data. Intel and other computing giants are facing inquiries from lawmakers and regulators about the disclosure of the chip flaw, and Krzanich may face questions about a large stock sale ahead of the public disclosure.
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