Intel’s third-quarter revenue was up 28 per cent year-over-year. “The company surpassed $14 billion in revenue for the first time, driven largely by double-digit unit growth in notebook PCs,” said Paul Otellini, Intel president and CEO. “We also saw continued strength in the data center fueled by the ongoing growth of mobile and cloud computing,” he added.

On a GAAP basis, the company reported third-quarter revenue of $14.2 billion, operating income of $4.8 billion, net income of $3.5 billion and earnings of 65 cents per share. The company generated approximately $6.3 billion in cash from operations, paid cash dividends of $1.1 billion, and used $4.0 billion to repurchase 186 million shares of common stock.

Intel’s board of directors voted to increase the company’s buyback authorization by $10.0 billion, raising the total unused balance to $14.2 billion at the end of the third quarter. The company also completed a senior notes offering of $5.0 billion primarily for the purpose of repurchasing stock.

Q3 2011 Key Financial Information (GAAP)

Business unit trends:

• PC Client Group revenue of $9.4 billion, up 22 per cent year-over-year.
• Data Center Group revenue of $2.5 billion, up 15 per cent year-over-year.
• Other Intelarchitecture group revenue up 68 per cent year-over-year.
• Intel  Atom microprocessor and chipset revenue of $269 million, down 32 per cent year-over-year.
• McAfee Inc. and Intel Mobile Communications contributed revenue of $1.1 billion.
• The platform average selling price (ASP) was up year-over-year and flat sequentially.
• Gross margin was 63.4 percent, 0.6 percent below the midpoint of the company’s expectation.
• R&D plus MG&A spending was $4.2 billion, slightly below the company’s expectation.
• Net gain of $107 million from equity investments and interest and other, consistent with the company’s expectations of approximately $100 million.
• The effective tax rate was 29 per cent, above the company’s expectation of approximately 28 per cent.
• The company used $4.0 billion to repurchase 186 million shares of common stock.

Business Outlook

• Revenue: $14.7 billion, plus or minus $500 million, on both a GAAP and Non-GAAP basis.
• Gross margin percentage: 65 percent, plus or minus a couple percentage points.
• R&D plus MG&A spending: approximately $4.3 billion.
• Amortization of acquisition-related intangibles: approximately $75 million.
• Impact of equity investments and interest and other: a net loss of approximately $30 million.
• Depreciation: approximately $1.4 billion.
• Tax Rate: approximately 28 per cent.
• Full-year capital spending:  $10.5 billion, plus or minus $300 million.

For additional information regarding Intel’s results and business outlook, you may want to see the CFO commentary here.