The Broadwell PC processor launch is to be delayed by a quarter-- at the Q3 2013 Intel earnings call CEO Brian Krzanich admits a "defect density issue" has impacted yields of the 14nm chips.
The company was already putting fixes on defective chips, but said fixes did not, well, fix every defect. This demanded a further round of improvements and a "small blip in the schedule."
"We have confidence the problem is fixed because we have data it is fixed," Krzanich says. "This happens sometimes in development phases like this. That's why we moved it a quarter."
Chipzilla is probably not too happy with Broadwell missing the crucial holiday season, even if it will surely take advantage to unload further existing chip inventory-- although it only sees what it calls "modest growth in a tough environment" during Q3 2013.
In this case "modest" means flat Y-o-Y revenues of $13.5 billion with operating income of $3.5bn and net income of $3.0bn. Unsurprisingly PC client revenues are down (by -3.5% Y-o-Y to $8.4bn) while architecture segments revenues drop by -9.3% Y-o-Y to $1.1bn.
The company sees a bright spot in enterprise, with Data Center Group revenues growing by 12.2% Y-o-Y to $2.9bn.
As for the future the Intel Q4 2013 is of the cautious variety, warning mature PC markets like W. Europe "appear to bottom out."
