Intel says hacker obtained confidential financial information

Intel said it was the victim of a hacker who stole confidential financial information from its corporate website on Thursday, prompting the company to release its earnings statement ahead of time.

The U.S. computer chip maker believes that an attacker has obtained advanced details about a solid earnings report that should be published after the stock market closes, said George Davis, chief financial officer.

She published her formal results announcement when she discovered the problem, six minutes before the market closed. Intel shares were up more than 6 percent on Thursday, including nearly 2 percent in the last 15 minutes of trading.

“An infographic was hacked from our public relations writing website,” said Davis. “We put [our earnings] that’s how we found out. “

He gave no further details, but said the leak was the result of an illegal action that did not involve any unintentional disclosure by the company itself.

An Intel spokesman added: “We were notified that our infographic was circulating outside the company. I don’t believe it was published. We continue to investigate this matter. “

33%

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

The gains revealed an unexpectedly strong jump in sales of chips for Intel personal computers as a result of the coronavirus pandemic, as more people bought laptops to work and study at home, as well as more powerful gaming PCs.

The results came as Intel said it was back to its advanced manufacturing plans after a series of delays that put it years behind rivals TSMC and Samsung.

In a call with Wall Street analysts, Bob Swan, who is expected to step down as chief executive next month, said the progress made in the past six months “has increased dramatically [Intel’s] confidence ”in being able to produce the company’s most advanced chips in its own semiconductor factories starting in 2023.

The company “overhauled” the steps in its new 7-nanometer manufacturing process that caused the problem, he said, while simplifying operations to make it more likely to reach the 2023 deadline.

Pat Gelsinger, who will take over as chief executive, also used the call to express support for Intel’s decision to remain in the manufacturing sector, despite investor activist Third Point’s demand to consider abandoning chip manufacturing and focusing on design , an approach followed by most of its rivals.

Gelsinger said the company would manufacture “most” of its chips in-house in 2023, although looking for ways to outsource more parts of its manufacturing.

The delays meant that Intel will not launch its first 7 nm chips until the first half of 2023 – at a time when TSMC expects to increase production on its 3 nm lines, which are a generation ahead.

In the last quarter, Intel said the volume of PC chips it sold increased 33 percent. The technology research group IDC previously said the number of machines shipped globally increased by 26 percent in the period, closing the strongest year for the PC industry in a decade.

Davis said the big leap highlighted the importance for Intel of owning its own factories, making it possible to redirect production to areas of greatest demand and gain more market share.

Although Intel’s revenue fell 1% in the fourth quarter, to $ 20 billion, that mark was $ 2.5 billion above Wall Street expectations. PC chip revenue increased 9% to $ 10.9 billion.

Data center chip revenue fell 16% to $ 16.1 billion as demand fell after a period of unexpectedly strong demand from cloud services companies.

Pro forma earnings per share of $ 1.52 remained unchanged from the previous year and 42 cents above expectations.

Based on formal accounting principles, Intel reported a 15 percent decline in net income to $ 5.9 billion, or $ 1.42 per share, mainly reflecting the absence of a reported gain the year before from a divestment. , as well as changes in its reported tax burden.