For Intel, the main bellwether vendor for PC and server chip sales, from $3.16 billion to $2.9 billion. The company reported Tuesday that revenue was flat at $12.9 billion. However, the results beat expectations of analysts who had feared worse. Hard drive shortages in the wake of Thailand floods have crimped hardware sales and were expected to affect chips sales as well. But excluding one-time items, Intel earnings per share were $0.56, while analysts polled by Thomson Reuters forecast EPS of $0.50.

Other tech vendors reporting results this week included:

--AMD, which of $590 million, down from a $510 million profit a year earlier. The loss was mainly due to costs related to its spinoff of GlobalFoundries and its SeaMicro acquisition. Revenue was $1.59 billion, down from $1.61 billion.

--Nokia, which on Thursday reported that year over year to €7.4 billion (US$9.7 billion), resulting in a loss of €929 million. The company still depends on sales of lower-priced phones, as Windows-based devices have yet to take off.

--Qualcomm, the mobile device chip designer, blew away expectations Wednesday when it announced a 123 percent year-over-year jump in profit, to $2.23 billion, on a 28 percent rise in revenue, to $4.94 billion, due to what it called strong demand for both 3G and 4G devices across developed and emerging markets.