NEW YORK — Chipmaker Intel Corp. is cutting its sales forecast for the quarter, adding fresh evidence that a rickety economy is putting a damper on the back-to-school shopping season.
Intel is the world’s biggest provider of PC microprocessors and a bellwether for the broader technology industry.
In a statement Friday, the company said it is seeing “weaker than expected demand for consumer PCs in mature markets,” including the U.S. and Europe.
The warning comes a little more than a month after Intel reported its biggest quarterly profit in a decade. But those results were fueled by a rebound in technology spending at corporations, many of which held off replacing older computers during the recession.
Home-computer purchases are another matter. Uncertainty about jobs is still keeping people’s spending in check.
Intel said it now expects revenue of $10.8 billion to $11.2 billion for the fiscal third quarter, which ends in September. That compares with a previous forecast of $11.2 billion to $12 billion.
On average, analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters expected $11.5 billion.
Intel is scheduled to report results Oct. 12 and plans to update its fourth-quarter and full-year outlook then.
Intel’s downgrade to its guidance wasn’t entirely a surprise. Many investors simply didn’t believe that Intel would be able to hit the higher numbers because of signals from other PC-industry suppliers that PC sales were collapsing.
