Weak demand causes Intel to issue revenue warning

Intel has issued its second revenue warning on the fourth quarter since November, with the company now expecting revenue to fall $2 billion short of its original forecast due to “weakness in end demand and inventory reductions by its customers in the global PC supply chain.” Revenue is now expected to be about $8.2 billion, down 23 percent over the same quarter last year and down 20 percent sequentially.

Intel’s latest warning comes as technology companies are starting to feel the impact of the global economic crisis, in what is likely to be a tough year as companies and consumers cut software and hardware spending. Additionally, the company said the year-end share price of WiMAX service provider Clearwire impaired the value of its investment, resulting in a noncash charge of $950 million to the chipmaker’s fourth-quarter earnings