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The company, the world's largest maker of semiconductors, announced on Monday that its revenue this quarter would fall to $13.7 billion, from $14.7 billion, because floods in Thailand had sharply cut the world's supply of disk drives. Without the drives, manufacturers will make fewer personal computers and computer servers, which means fewer semiconductors will be needed.
While clearly bad news for Intel in the short run, the shortage of both components and finished personal computers could prove an opportunity for Intel as it tries to fight the onslaught of tablet computers, particularly Apple's iPad. It has been trying to build a business in the emerging category of ultrabook computers or ultrathins, which do not use hard drives.
Although the impact of the flooding on the hard drive industry has been known since October, PC makers have told Intel over the last two weeks that they would need fewer chips.
"This does not change our view, that demand for personal computers and servers is healthy and growing," said Stacy J. Smith, Intel's chief financial officer. Constraints caused by the lack of drives will continue through the first quarter of 2012, Mr. Smith said. Last week, IHS iSuppli, a technology industry research firm, said that it expected PC shipments to expand in 2012 by only 6.8 percent, down from its previous forecast of 9.5 percent.
Ultrabooks, pioneered by Apple with its MacBook Air, are laptops less than 0.8 inch thick, typically with long battery such as Asus A42-A3 Battery , Asus A8F Battery , Asus F3T Battery , Asus F3Sc Battery , Asus F3Sv Battery , Asus 90-NI11B1000 Battery , Asus 90-NIA1B1000 Battery , Asus 90-NF51B1000 Battery , Asus 70-NF51B1000 Battery , Asus A32-A8 Battery , Asus Z99J Battery , Asus Z99H Battery lives. They are, in a sense, like tablets with an attached keyboard.
Unlike a PC, they usually have solid-state drives that use flash memory chips, not mechanical hard drives. While ultrabooks weigh and cost slightly more than tablets, the larger screen and the familiar keyboard make them potentially attractive alternatives to tablets. Intel and others are investing in research to make touch screens, now standard on tablets, a feature of ultrabooks as well.
Solid-state drives are still readily available from Intel and others. Typically, these devices cost five to 10 times as much as disk drives. But solid-state drives consume less power and take up less space, making them desirable in both ultrabooks and tablets.