Intel says hacker obtained financially sensitive information

Intel said it was the victim of a hacker who stole financially sensitive information from its corporate website on Thursday, asking the company to disclose its earnings statement ahead of schedule.

The U.S. computer chip maker believed an attacker had obtained advanced details about a strong earnings report he would publish after the stock market closed, Chief Financial Officer George Davis said.

The company released its formal earnings announcement after discovering the problem, six minutes before the market closed. Intel’s shares rose more than 6 percent on Thursday, including nearly 2 percent in the last 15 minutes of trading.

“An infographic has been hacked from our PR newsroom,” Davis said. ‘We sit [our earnings] out as soon as we were aware of it. ”

He did not provide further details, but said the leak was the result of an illegal act that did not involve any unintentional disclosure by the company itself.

An Intel spokesman added: “We have been informed that we are circulating information outside the company. I do not believe it has been published. We continue to investigate this matter. ”

33%

The increase in volume of Intel PC chips sold in the last quarter

The earnings showed an unexpectedly strong decline in Intel’s sales of chips for personal computers due to the coronavirus pandemic, as more people bought laptops to work from home and study, as well as more powerful gaming computers.

The results came when Intel claimed it was back on track with its advanced manufacturing plans after a series of delays that left it years behind rivals TSMC and Samsung.

In a call with Wall Street analysts, Bob Swan, who will step down as CEO next month, said progress has “increased dramatically” over the past six months [Intel’s] confidence ”to manufacture the company’s most advanced chips in its own semiconductor manufacturing facilities starting from 2023.

The company has ‘revamped’ the steps in the new 7-nanometer manufacturing process that caused the problem, he said, while also simplifying operations to make it more likely that it would meet the 2023 deadline.

Pat Gelsinger, who will take over as CEO, also used the call to support Intel’s decision to continue in the manufacturing industry, despite the question from activist investor Third Point that he should consider manufacturing chips shed and focus on design, an approach followed by most of its competitors.

Mr. Gelsinger said the company will make ‘the majority’ of its chips by 2023, although it will look at ways to outsource more parts of production.

The delays have meant that Intel will only release its first 7nm chips in the first half of 2023 – at a time when TSMC expects production on its 3nm lines, which is a generation ahead, to increase.

In the last quarter, Intel said that the volume of computer chips it sold jumped by 33 percent. Technology research group IDC has already said that the number of machines worldwide increased by 26 percent during the period, which was the strongest year for the computer industry in a decade.

Mr Davis said the big jump underscores the importance of Intel owning its own manufacturing facilities, making it possible to divert production to the areas with the strongest demand and gain more market share.

Although Intel’s revenue fell 1 percent to $ 20 billion in the fourth quarter, it was $ 2.5 billion higher than Wall Street’s expectations. Revenue from computer chips rose 9 percent to $ 10.9 billion.

Data center chip turnover fell 16 percent to $ 16.1 billion as demand declined after a period of unexpectedly strong demand from cloud services businesses.

Pro forma earnings per share of $ 1.52 were unchanged from a year earlier, and 42 cents above expectations.

Based on formal accounting principles, Intel reported a 15 percent drop in net income to $ 5.9 billion, or $ 1.42 per share, mainly due to an absence from a profit it made in the previous year reported as a result of a disinvestment, as well as changes in the reported taxation. .