Intel Corporation (INTC) is scheduled to report second-quarter earnings on Thursday after the market closes, and analysts are looking at upbeat results. Data-centric business, which had significantly lifted the company’s first-quarter results, is once again the prime focus, as experts believe this unit’s contribution might increase in the second quarter.
The data-centric business accounted for nearly 50% of the top-line during the first quarter. A 16% increase in unit volumes contributed to a 24% jump in Data Center Group’s revenue, as the division saw rising adoption of Intel Xeon Scalable processors, especially for use in artificial intelligence workloads.
Related: Data-centric businesses lift Intel’s first quarter results
For the second quarter, Wall Street expects Intel to post 33.30% growth in earnings on a 5.90% increase in revenue, amidst rising competition from rivals including Nvidia (NVDA), Advanced Micro Devices (AMD), Qualcomm (QCOM) and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing.
Experts believe Intel’s new products could be impacted by its manufacturing delays, which in turn could lower its competitive edge. The chipmaker, which is banking highly on the artificial intelligence, is hoping to outstrip its peers with its rising adoption in new smartphone features such as gesture control, fingerprint scanners, image scanners, and GPS.
Related: Chipmaker giant Intel’s CEO Brian Krzanich resigns
Meanwhile, the company has been searching for a new executive chief after the resignation of Brian Krzanich last month, and investors will be looking for any hints on this at the conference call. In addition, speculations are rife that an ex-employee, Diane Bryant, who resigned as COO from Alphabet’s (GOOGL) Google Cloud, might return to handle the executive chief position. Whoever it is will be tasked with fixing the manufacturing concerns the company is currently facing.
Intel shares were trading up 0.45% at $52.54 on the Nasdaq at 11:55 am ET. The stock has gained 51% in the past 52 weeks.
