Chip Sales Up as Workers Shift to Home
Intel, the largest U.S. chip maker, logged sales of $19.83 billion in 2020’s first quarter, a 23-percent jump from the same period last year.
Earnings per share jumped 51 percent to $1.31.
With millions of people suddenly working from home, Intel’s data-center division gained 43 percent in sales during the quarter. Sales of the division making chips for personal computers increased 14 percent, beating expectations.
The company’s Internet-of-Things division, which makes chips for automated vehicles and smart appliances, dropped 3 percent in sales as carmakers and other manufacturers slashed operations in response to the economic crisis.
Micron Technologies, which also makes memory chips used in data centers, reported earnings that were better than expected. Texas Instruments, another chip company, has said it will keep its factories running at current levels to be ready when the economy returns.
Advanced Micro-Devices has lagged its rivals due to difficulties in its manufacturing operations. However, it has projected $18.5 billion in sales this quarter, exceeding analysts’ consensus of $17.8 billion.
Intel’s results, and its competitors’ optimism, might be short-term, some analysts think.
With unemployment at depression scale and people reining in spending, sales of chip-bearing gadgets from smartphones to pickup trucks could suffer this year.
Chip industry revenues are likely to drop about 10 percent this year, forecasts Handel Jones, CEO of consulting firm International Business Strategies.
TREND FORECAST: Chip sales might falter as this year progresses, but the industry will continue to grow next year and beyond as more and more work, schooling, and other activities move online. The current crisis is not only altering habits but also basic assumptions about where and how work and learning must be done.
Again, as we have long noted, as less and less students will be attending college and the home schooling trend grows as more parents work from home or are out of work and at home, Gerald Celente’s “Interactive U” online learning megatrend will sharply accelerate.
The current education model was invented by the Germans at the onset of the Industrial Revolution to teach workers in mass production facilities how to read, write, do math… and follow orders.
With interactive education, students will be able access the best and most accomplished experts in selected fields of study rather than the one-size-fits-all, outdated educational programming that is now the norm.
Trends are born, they grow, mature, reach old age, and die. The Industrial Age education model is dying, and the Interactive U. model is still in its infancy.
Thus, the Ontrendpreneur® opportunities that seize upon its growth will provide great rewards.
