Despite Intel's investors being disappointed, the chip giant is reaping the benefits of their successes over AMD the past few years as profits climb. For 4Q 2007, Intel saw a 51% boost in profits after a total of $2.27 billion income, which was significantly more than the same period in 2006.

Disappointment or not, no one can be blind to how well Intel is doing in general, but in particular against AMD. We've seen AMD come back from worse before, so perhaps Phenom will help them turn it around. Intel's latest successes come even among a “weakening” demand for PCs, though mobile markets are likely to increase in demand as PCs wane.