In one of its worst ever quarterly results, Intel's profit crashed 90% in Q4.
The company recorded revenue of $8.2 billion in the December quarter, down 23% year-on-year and 19% sequentially, and income of $234 million. Full year net income decreased 24% to $5.3 billion on sales of $37.6 billion, down 2%.
Operating income in its microprocessor group almost halved from the previous year from $2.18 billion to $1.22 billion. Revenue for the segment fell 24.5% to $4.5 billion. Sales of mobility products fell 14.8% to $3.5 billion.
The result included a billion-dollar writedown on its investment in US Wimax startup Clearwire.
Intel has faced a revenue slide of this magnitude just twice before in the past 25 years - during the 2001 dot-com bust and in 1985, New York Times noted.
"The economy and the industry are in the process of resetting to a new baseline from which growth will resume," said Paul Otellini, Intel president and CEO.
Because of the economic uncertainty, Intel said it would not provide a revenue outlook for the current quarter. But for planning purposes, the company is projecting revenue of around $7 billion. The company also expects to spend $2.5 billion during the quarter.