Chipmakers aim to catch mobile wave

Article Excerpt

These three chipmakers are leaders in the their niche markets. But they need new products to keep growing. That’s why all three are spending heavily to develop new chips for smartphones and other popular mobile devices. INTEL CORP. $22 (Nasdaq symbol INTC; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; Shares outstanding: 5.6 billion; Market cap: $123.2 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 2.7; Dividend yield: 3.3%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.intel.com) is the world’s leading computer-chip maker. For 2010, the company reported record revenue of $43.6 billion. That’s up 24.2% from $35.1 billion in 2009. Earnings jumped 76.1%, to a record $11.6 billion from $6.6 billion in 2009. During the year, Intel paid $1.5 billion to buy back 70 million of its shares. Because of fewer shares outstanding, earnings per share rose 75.2%, to $2.05 from $1.17. Intel saw strong demand for server processors (up 35%) in 2010. As well, sales of chips for personal computers jumped 21%. Sales of Intel’s Atom processors rose 8%…