Intel comfortable with analysts' growth forecast

TAIPEI, TAIWAN: Intel Corp is comfortable with analysts' estimates of about 10 per cent growth in global PC shipments next year on increasing appetite for portable computers, an executive said, after the chip giant posted quarterly earnings that surpassed market expectations.

A new generation of slimmer laptops are flying off the shelves to tempt buyers when the economy recovers, while many industry analysts also expect Microsoft's upcoming Windows 7 to help boost demand from the corporate segment.

Intel's stellar quarterly earnings reinforced hopes of a tech sector recovery.

"The big driver for growth in the industry is the notebooks, no question," Navin Shenoy, Intel's general manager in the Asia-Pacific region, told Reuters in a telephone interview on Wednesday.

"The industry estimates are widely ranging but most of them are in a roughly 10 percent range in terms of PC growth next year, and we are comfortable with that."

"I would anticipate that the mainstream notebook will continue to be the lead driver for not just Asia but most of the world in the fourth quarter and as we head over to 2010," Shenoy said.

Research firm IDC predicted in September a 9.1 percent rise in global PC shipments next year after an estimated 1.2 percent fall for this year, and a 13 percent gain in 2011.