Qualcomm, Inc. Decides to Advance Into The Chinese Market

The chipmaker has had a tough year and plans to enter China

In the most recent quarter, the earnings of Qualcomm, Inc. fell by 24%. This fall in the earnings makes it evident that the low-demand of the smartphone is not just affecting Apple Inc. and other smartphone makers but also the component suppliers. The San Diego based chip maker has shared its expectations for the second quarter of fiscal year 2016 and expects the sales and profit to fall short of analyst’s estimations.

According to the calculations of the chip-maker, the revenue for the quarter that ends on March is likely to be somewhere between $4.9 billion to $5.7 billion while the earnings could be between 69 cents to 79 cents per share. As per the compilation by analysts at Bloomberg, the earnings could be of 84 cents on sales of approximately $5.66 billion.

The most revenue of the company comes from its division that makes processors and modems for smartphones. This division is likely to face a hit as the market is slowing down; additionally other chip makers who are rivals of Qualcomm are coming out with better prices and better performing chips. Also because of low-demand for smartphone, technology giants including Apple Inc., Samsung Electronics and Huawei technologies prefer to make their own components now.

An analyst at Sanford C. Bernstein, Stacy Rasgon stated that the market is saturating and the competition in the market is worsening, he added the company’s issues are mainly structural and are not going away anytime soon. Currently, Stacy has given a Hold rating to the stock of the chip manufacturing giant.

After the earnings report surfaced, Qualcomm stock fell by 2% and was being traded at $47.53 per share – this decline in the share price brought the total decline to 34% throughout out the year. Subsequently, Steve Mollenkopf, the chief executive officer of the company stated that the smartphone market is growing but the major players in the market are facing trouble which includes Samsung and Apple. He added that due to the market saturation, many of the organization’s customers are facing trouble in growing.

For example: Apple Inc. for the first time reported the slow growth in iPhone’s sales ever since it launched back in 2007 – and the report also suggested that for the upcoming quarter the sales might even see the first ever decline.

The CEO of Qualcomm is trying his best to make its technology available in other areas of the market including cars, serves and medical devices. 

On the other hand, the year did not entirely end on a bad note as it also announced its plans of advancing in the world largest country, China. According to the announcement of the company, it will work on a joint venture with the regional government of Guizhou China which, according to the deal, will work on the production of chips. This new joint venture will be known as Guizhou Huaxintong Semi-Conductor Technology Co.

Toyota Motor Maintains Stronghold Considering Daihatsu Buyout

Toyota disclosed an impressive sales figure of selling more than 10 million vehicles in 2015.

Japan’s automobile business, Toyota, reported an enormous consolidated sale of 10.15 million vehicles in 2015. The Tokyo-based organization plans to take full control of same country’s small car manufacturer ‘Daihatsu Motor’, the company currently holds its 51.2% shares.

The world’s top car manufacturer suggests that in the highly competitive industry, the buy-out of Daihatsu will support it to emerge strongly in the market. The likely venture will avoid design duplicity and work in the establishment of strong product lineup. In seven out of the past eight years, the Japanese organization remained at top beating the giants like General Motors and Volkswagen AG. It was only in 2011 after the catastrophic earthquake that it fell short and lost its no. 1 position.

Toyota also has business partnerships with few of Japan’s car manufacturer including Subaru parent ‘Fuji Heavy Industries’, ‘Mazda Motor’, and truck maker ‘Isuzu Motors’. The likely buy-out of Daihatsu escalated its share by 20% while a rumored tie-up with Suzuki raised its share by 11%.

For a long time, rumors are soaring high that the world’s leading automobile company is interested in joining hands with Japan’s another company – or fourth biggest – automobile company ‘Suzuki Motor’ in order to pave its way in India. Source privy to the matter said that earlier, both the companies had talks regarding fuel saving, safety-technologies, and operations in India. Suzuki has strong hold in Indian market and its capital ties with the excellent organization will be highly profitable but both the companies waived off such rumors.

Many automobile manufacturers have been following the similar traits as Toyota for instance, Nissan, VW, and Renault use Datsun, Skoda, and Dacia as their respective low-cost products. Moreover, few analysts vote for Toyota-Suzuki partnership. Suzuki has vast distribution network in India and Toyota could reap significantly high benefits from Indian market where it has a share of only 5%. The partnership will likely be advantageous to both companies.

In the competitive industry, Toyota has to make prudent choice of either going for the partnership or the full control. It could not be benefitted from both options as Daihatsu and Suzuki are fierce rivals – both are dedicated to manufacture 660cc small sized vehicles. The mini-vehicles have been the eye-candy of budget conscious consumers.

Also, earlier in 2010, when Asian organization joined hands with Volkswagen, it couldn’t keep their cordial business relationship for a long time. The partnership turned bitter and the disputes led the giving up of cross shareholdings. 

Toyota Motor stock stood at $114.35 going up by 3% market close on Tuesday. If it goes for the take-over of Daihatsu, the buy-out will help the titan to win over the customers in the market and expand its business largely.

Investors Pessimistic About Apple's Earnings for the Quarter

The technology giant is all set to make its earnings call tomorrow; analysts remain pessimistic.

Investors are anxiously waiting for Apple Inc. to release its earnings report for the holiday season. Analysts remain pessimistic about the financial results as they suggest that the technology giant will not be able to match or even come close to the sales of the iPhones reported in the same quarter last year. The shareholders are waiting for the million dollar question to be answered: Will the company be able to outperform its mark of 74.5 million this quarter?

Strategy Analytics along with researchers assume that the company will be report poor shipments this quarter which would be the first ever year over year decline reported by the smartphone manufacturer since 2007, when the iPhone was introduced.

The iPhone 6 and 6s have not performed comparatively well in the market; everyone would agree on that. In its effort to tap the market demand for big screens, the flagship smartphone maker has failed to give its best performance. Another reason for the poor performance of the 6 and 6s was because customers did not find any new or different features and realized that it was quite similar to the 5 series.

Apple Inc. majorly depends on the sales and performance of its iPhone as it accounts for two thirds of its revenue. This negativity can be seen in the company’s stock price; due to the demand for the product the stock has been under hot water. On Monday, Apple stock was being traded at a share price of $99.44 indicating a decline of 1.95% from a day earlier.

The latest earnings report will be the most important report that the company will release so far. The iPhone maker has seen its fair share of growth – turns out it was not there to last forever. Back in 2013 the company reported revenue generation of $57.6 billion and was expecting to report as much as $76.6 billion in revenue for the current year.

According to the estimations of financial experts, Cupertino, California based organization is expected to report revenue of $55.7 billion – the first ever decline in revenue – this could be of 4%. Because of these pessimistic predictions many investors have already sold the stock. However, the analysts, at this point say that as long as it managed to not underperform the expectations, the company should be fine.

The earnings call will be a chance for the business’s management to explain themselves and the sudden decline in the sales. Many are expecting this to be the ‘biggest event’ in the history for the technology giant. According to the analysts at Bloomberg, for the first quarter of the current fiscal year the earnings per share could be of $2.23 along with 75 million iPhone unit sales.

It could be a moment for celebration for Google Inc. if Apple reports its first year over year decline in sales as it will finally be able to take the trophy of the most valuable company. The technology corporation failed to achieve any milestones in the 2015. On the other hand, it was a shining year for the search engine giant Alphabet, Inc.  

Just a few hours left to see how the Silicon Valley leader did last quarter.

Ford Exits Indonesian and Japanese Market

The declining sales urge the America's top manufacturer to shut down its operations before incurring more losses

America’s top automobile manufacturer, Ford Motor Co. announces its exit from the Japan and Indonesian markets. The U.S. auto giant will exit the markets by the end of 2016. The U.S. based organization faces tough competition in the Asian markets. Dejected by the unprofitable ventures, it has decided to suspend its operations. The decision has been communicated to 350 employees of the company in both countries.

Over the years, Ford’s executives complained about the hindrances that importers were facing including non-tariff barriers and a series of regulations. Trade-barriers were huge blow for the company for the sector where the company relied on importing the vehicles. The organization does not positive views for  U.S. President Barack Obama’s 12-Nation Trans Pacific Partnership Trade, a treaty which would disband the U.S. duties on import cars from 12-Nations including Japan.    

The Japanese market is already dominated by big local companies such as Toyota Motor Corporation. In 2015, the company’s sale has been exceptionally low with a total of around 11,000 vehicles sold in both countries. In Japan, the U.S. top automobile manufacturer share remained at 0.1% with a number of only 5,000 vehicles sold.

According to analysts, trend of declining sales in Japan is inevitable because of shrinking population and lack of interest of the youngsters in cars trimming any possible chances of Ford’s success. Similarly, in Indonesia, Ford Motor managed to sale only 6,100 vehicles covering 0.6% share in the market.

The automobile organization has been operating in Japan for more than four decades with 52 dealerships in the country. The company’s personnel said that the company’s operations in Asia will remain in force. Lately, it has been performing quite at par in China. According to Ford’s spoke person, Ms. Karen Hampton, last year the company pulled off $1 billion sales in China, growing up by 3%.

 The business objective included import of Ford and Lincoln vehicles, sales, and dealership offices. The company didn’t set up production base in Indonesia. Moreover, Indonesia has the potential for the automobile industry’s growth. However, the tough competition by Japan deterred the company’s growth. Worldwide, Japan has the most developed automobile manufacturing structure.

In the year 2014, the company sold around 11,614 vehicles in Indonesia while in the foregoing year the figure came tumbling down at 6,100. The sales declined by almost 50%. Almost a year earlier, in Indonesia, the Detroit multinational General Motors Company shut down its assembly plan.

Keeping in view Ford’s poor performance in both countries, the company’s decision to shut down the businesses is prudent.   

At the market which closed on Monday, Ford Motor Corp. stock stood at $11.98. The stock currently has a rating of “Hold” with a 52-week range of $10.44 to $16.74. The higher price target is estimated at $22 while the lower price target is set at $14.

Twitter Inc Loses Four Top Executives

Twitter stock has been called 'Junk' after the departure of four top executives; analysts believe the management won't bring better days for the company.

On Sunday, the chief executive officer of Twitter Inc. confirmed the news of four top executives leaving the company that included Katie Stanton, Kevin Weil, Skip Schipper and Alex Roetter. The major problem of the organization solely lies in its inability to attract users. After the news of the four executives leaving surfaced, the stock of the company plunged 4% during the trading session on Monday.

An analyst at Global Equities, Trip Chowdhry called Twitter stock – junk. The stock expert believes that the micro-blogging company’s stock is likely to fall to $5 per share. He strongly believes that bringing in a new team of executives will not bring a change and the stock will still be categorized with GoPro, Box and Fitbit; it will never reach to Facebook Inc.’s level.

As Kevin Weil, the core product head leaves the company, Adam Messinger will be taking his place who was initially the technology chief. He has been working for the company for over five years so the employees are quite familiar with him; currently Twitter is not looking to hire a new product head, according to the social media network’s spokesman.

Time after time, the social media website has stated that the worst days are over when only it is always just a beginning of such days. Initially when the board re-appointed Jack Dorsey and chief financial officer Anthony Noto was hired, the same statement was made, according to which the company was to see better days. Unfortunately, better days have not yet arrived for the micro-blogging website.

Mr. Chowdhry, after being so cynical, still believe that there is hope for the company as it can expand and promote itself in Asian countries including the second largest country in terms of population, India. He stated that it could become a tool for the government to keep a check on the citizens and could make investigations easy as well.

He also suggested that in case the website shows signs of gaining more users, it would be the perfect time for the investors to sell the stock. He added that the novelty aspect of the stock is going away so the investors should seize the opportunity since it will be quite difficult for the stock to regain its novelty.

Additionally, the CEO stated that after Mr. Messinger is appointed as the product head, he will be working closely with him – day and night to work on building a better experience for the users. The stock, on Monday fell by 4.6% and is currently being traded at a share price of $17.02, which is close to year another all-time low.

Petroleo Brasileiro SA Petrobras Considered As Biggest Problem Of Brazil

After being involved in one of the biggest corruption scandal, Petroleo Brasileiro Petrobras can be Brazil's biggest problem in a long time.

A few months ago, news tipped that Petroleo Brasileiro SA Petrobras is involved in what is said to be the biggest corruption scandal in Brazil’s history. The oil and gas firm was in a multibillion-dollar money laundering case among other companies and banks. Due to this, the debt burden has continued to hurt Brazil’s economy.

The Brazilian regulators, after strict scrutiny, came to a conclusion that Petrobras will be facing consequences of its actions. The corruption scandal was not a recent one but it was carried forward from older times.

Sources now suggest that the bailout of Petrobras could easily cost the government around $20 billion but there are conditions applied to these as well. The bailout will cost $20 billion only and only if the crude oil prices decline to $20 per barrel in the region. It is believed that this amount is sufficient to further improve the capital structure and the liquidity position of the oil and gas company; which is also federally operated. Bloomberg reported this news after citing the research published by Citigroup.

The Brazilian economy and the oil and gas industry was immensely declining. Hence, all economic factors along with the multibillion-dollar corruption scandal had an adverse effect on the firm’s balance sheet. According to sources, the company has liabilities valued at more than $130 billion for the three months ended September 30, 2015.

Furthermore, the debt to earnings ratio has also jumped 6.5 times during this time. Citigroup reported that Petrobras has reached an unsustainable level and it would take quite a while to recover its business.

Apart from this, the company’s total debt to equity ratio also increased when compared to last year. Citigroup mentioned that it was 115% in 2014, which increased to 174% by the end of September 2015. This made Petrobras the most indebted oil and gas corporation in the whole industry.

The Standard and Poor’s (S&P) ratings also downgraded the organization’s stock and credit rating to Junk last year. Analysts believe that it is now impossible to revive its business amidst all the corruption cases and the dying economy of the region.

Lower crude oil prices affected Petrobras most. If the price of crude oil further goes down, then the financial condition of the business would become worse. The company already opted for several cost cutting strategies and closed down its few operations and production.

Petrobras also announced that it will be reducing its production target of 2016 along with the investment plans of 2015-2019. Previously, it had plans to invest $130.3 billion in projection but it will decrease the investment to 24% and will invest $98.4 billion only. 

Apple Shifts Focus To Indian Market Now

The technology company is planning to take over the Indian market as it decided to open retail shops in the country and become the official distributor of iPhones.

Apple, Inc. has been smart enough to make decisions of entering the second most populous country in the world, India – as China faces slowdown due to economic conditions, the technology giant cannot afford to lose demand for iPhones. It has started to focus more towards one of the biggest countries of the world.

Although the technology giant has been discrete about the matter, it has been taking its piece of pie from India by investing in advertisements, improving its distribution system, making schemes on interest free phone loans and cutting prices. Presently, it sells its products in the Indian market through various distributors but now it wants to be the official seller in the market. To do so, it has filed a request on Wednesday with the Indian Government to run its own retail shops and start selling the devices online.

By the end of the previous fiscal year on March 31, the Cupertino, Calif. company had revenue generation of over $1 billion alone from the Indian market. Despite being so popular there, currently it only had a 2% chunk of the smartphone market. According to an analyst at Canalys in Singapore, Rushabh Doshi, India is a huge potential market for Apple to enter.

Previously, 118 million iPhones were sold in India and according to analysts’ estimations, this number is expected to rise to 174 million units by the year 2017. Initially, an Apple product would only be seen in the wealthy user’s hands in India but now, the company has decided to reposition itself in a way that it seems accessible to the middle class as well.

China has not started to show signs of saturation due to which Apple had to make this move and it could prove to be a smart one, as over 10 years, it could be one of the most important markets in terms of revenue generation. At this point, the company had declined to comment on its expansion plans but the chief executive officer, Tim Cook had initially stated that there has been progress in the country.

According to research by IDC, in a year’s time, India is likely to be above the United States smartphone’s market and second to China – since the market is growing and expanding rapidly. Around 35% phones being sold in the market are now smartphones, which leaves Apple with a huge chunk to conquer. The use of smartphones in the market is comparatively low because the people of the country tend to purchase and use cheaper phones.

Microsoft Promises To Contribute $1 billion Worth Cloud Services

Microsoft wants to work for public welfare, so it has decided to donate cloud services to non-profit institutes all across the world.

For the betterment of public, Microsoft Corporation Inc. has planned to donate cloud services worth $1 billion to non-profit organization and researchers over a period of three years. In this time span, the services will be donated to over 70,000 non-profits and about 900 research universities. This pledge has been made on behalf of Microsoft Philanthropies, a charity program that was launched by the company previous month.

This is the first major contribution that will be made by the philanthropic project. Satya Nadella, CEO at MSFT, mentioned the initiative on Tuesday after he attended the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. The idea behind this initiative is to make cloud services more accessible to the masses at low costs or for free.

The cloud services allow users to access a number of applications in a centralized platform through which, an individual or companies can store and backup huge amount of data. Companies can avoid excessive costs, such as infrastructure and hardware, since they are able to save all the data online.

At the world forum, world leaders kept their focus on making the cloud technology available to the less fortunate or people who are not included as part of the wealthy community. Making data storage, analytics, insights, intelligence would bridge the gap between those who are unable to afford such a luxury and education.

The multinational tech organization has been playing its part right through Microsoft Azura, as it allows people to avail computing power and other services. A chunk of this donation will go in making cloud computing accessible worldwide free of cost (Microsoft Azura 365 Application). The rest of the amount will go into the expansion of Auzra in various research universities, governmental organizational and non-profit organizations.

According to the plans of the company, an initial program already provides cloud services to about 600 research universities whose services are plans to expand by 50%. Additionally, it plans to make the power accessible to more underdeveloped nations all across the globe. The latest program is aiming to make about 20 investments in about 15 countries worldwide, as stated by the Chief Legal Officer and President of Microsoft.

CEO of the tech giant is expected to speak at the World Economic Forum today in which he will discuss the donation of the three-part program. By the end of 2016, the company is planning to donate cloud services worth $350 million. This is an interesting initiative through which, the company will be able to attract a number of users towards these free services.

IBM Posts Financial Results For Fourth Quarter Fiscal Year 2015

The technology company has seen a declining stock price, but yet to see how it performs in year 2016.

In 2015, International Business Machines Corporation stock has dropped by as much as 14%; it underperformed the S&P 500 Index. In the past couple of years, the technology company has seen a drastic decline in its hardware-manufacturing sector due to which it was forced to enter the analytics, cloud and security sectors.

On January 19, the technology company was supposed to report its financial results for the fourth quarter of fiscal year 2015. The Street predicted on what report is expected by the company. For the quarter, The Street believed that IBM might be posting revenues of as much as $22 billion, which indicates a decline of 9% on a year-over-year basis. While it stated that the earnings per share – EPS – is predicted to be around $4.81, which indicates a decline of 17% on year-over-year basis. Free cash flow is likely to be at $5.1 billion and 53.7% as the gross margin.

IBM has always focused to keep its major investments towards improving its bottom line due to which it has mostly not lived up to The Street’s expectation of the revenue generation, but it has always outperformed the EPS estimates. For the past consecutive nine quarters, business managed to outperform the revenue estimation only once; while on the other hand, earnings estimates have been outperform by the company for at least seven times.

In the previous quarter of the current fiscal year, it had reported decreasing earnings in more of its segments while only the cloud, analytics, and security sectors performed comparatively well. In the third quarter, revenue of $19.28 billion was reported while the estimation of the analysts at The Street was $19.64 billion. Additionally, the EPS predicted by The Street for the third quarter was $3.30 and the company reported $3.34.

Ever since the business dropped its EPS guidance for 2015, IBM stock has declined by as much as 6%. During December past year, the tech organization kept going with its acquisitions in order to target its “stronger go to market and sales commitment” the strategic partnership was expanded with Box. Apart from being on an acquisition spree, it has also decided to lay off a number of its employees. In Germany, as many as 3,000 workers at IBM could lose their jobs are equal to 18%of its total workforce.

Analysts are predicting that investors are likely to focus on the company’s software sector in the year 2016 along with aiming at a stable free cash flow.

Yahoo Can Improve Its Stock Price In The Market

Yahoo can actually contribute to an improved share price if its sell its core assets in the coming times

Yahoo Inc. would never stop making in the news until it comes up with a proper solution that would decide its future once and for all. The internet firm is hanging in between selling its core internet business or spin off stakes in the Asian assets i.e. Alibaba and Yahoo Japan. The company is constantly been asked and forced by its investors and shareholders to come up with a final decision but the board of directors is delaying it for unknown reasons.

For the past couple of months the activist investors of the firm, Starboard Value LP and Canyon Capital Advisors, are urging Yahoo to sell its core internet and advertising business as well as finalize its decision regarding the Asian assets. Furthermore, Canyon Capital Advisors have warned the company to not waste the capital that has provided anymore and prioritize its future first. Reuters reported that if Yahoo continues by selling its core assets then the share price could increase easily.

The latest edition of Barron reported that the shareholder pressure is increasing which is urging the search engine giant to sell its business as well as separate its Asian assets from its main business. According to reports, the overall sales of the business and its stakes in the Asian assets could see its stock price increase by $40 on one share. This will be a 35 percent increase from the $29.14 closing of market on Friday.

Barron stated that the shares of the firm look appealing as its asset value accounts to a price of $48 per share.

Apart from this, Starboard Value LP is ramping up pressure as the investment firm is not satisfied with the performance of the CEO, Marissa Mayers, and her management team. Starboard raised the prospect that a proxy battle might be approaching amid weak leadership of the CEO. The investment firm wants Yahoo to bid farewell to its management team as soon as possible. Other investors said that the company should either fire Marissa Mayers and her team or sell its business immediately.

Starboard Value did not name the CEO specifically in the letter but wanted them to be gone for its betterment. Analysts were pretty sure that the sale would boost the company’s value one way or another. As of now, the market value is actually dependent on the stakes that it has in Alibaba and Yahoo Japan and its business value is currently in negative.

Yahoo stock stood at $29.74 at market close on Tuesday January 19.

GoPro, Inc. Drops 24% During The Pre-Market Trading

The action camera maker will report its financial results for the fourth quarter soon; financial results for the third quarter were quite unimpressive.

GoPro, Inc.’s stock has plunged by as much as 24% during the pre-market trading on January 14, 2015. This drop in the shares happened when the announcement of a weak fourth quarter of fiscal year 2015 along with a number of new layoffs came out. Since the beginning of fiscal year 2015, the stock of the action camera maker has managed to drop by as much as 80%. Analysts believe this drop could have been due to the weakness prevailing in the action camera making market.

In order to promote essential growth initiatives and invest its resources for the purpose, the camera manufacturer has planned on reducing its workforce by about 7%. During the first quarter of the latest fiscal year, the company is expecting to incur cost of as much as $5-10 million which could account mostly to severance cost.

However in the fourth quarter it is expecting to report revenue of $435 million in comparison to the analyst’s consensus of $511.9 million – evidently the stock experts are expecting too much from the camera manufacturer. Due to the low sales of its latest product, Hero4 the company slashed the price of the device by twice to $200. Weaker than expected financial results were reported by the company for the third quarter of the current fiscal year as well.

GoPro, Inc. went public back in June 2014 and this drop in the stock price has been the lowest the price has been at since then. The chief executive officer, Nick Woodman has been named as the most paid CEO of year 2015 in the United States with a package worth $281.2 million. According to the data provided by Bloomberg, now the compensation of the CEO has dropped down to $71.4 million. Additionally, his net worth dropped down from $1.6 billion to $850 million.

In other news, after being appointed to the Board of Directors of GoPro Entertainment, Zander Lurie, the senior vice president of the action camera maker, gave in his resignation as well. Zander is expected to become the CEO at SurveyMonkey, Inc. by the end of this month.

Currently the stock of the action camera maker is being traded at a stock price of $12.01. The earnings per share reported by the technology company are 1.20 with a price to earnings ratio of 9.98. The current market capitalization of the organization is 1.65 billion.

The analysts are being quite cautious with the stock of the company, at this point due to the declining demand of these cameras.

Intel Corporation's Fourth Quarter Fiscal Year 2015, Financial Results Are Out

The technology chipmaker has posted positive results for the fourth quarter.

The financial results for the fourth quarter of fiscal year 2015 have been posted by Intel Corporation. The chipmaker has posted positive results for the latest quarter. The revenue generated during three month period ending December 31, 2015 were $14.9 million, beating the revenue consensus of analysts which was of $14.8 billion. Even though the technology company has been witnessing declining sales in its PC unit but it has managed to outperform via its data center group.

Earnings per share reported by the largest chipmaker in the industry were at 75 cents, again beating the average consensus of stock experts, who predicted the EPS to be 63 cents per share. For the next quarter which will be the first quarter for fiscal year 2016, the company has predicted that the revenue that will be generated during the time will be $14.1 billion. On the other hand, the analysts predict that it will be as much as $13.88 billion.

Clearly, the investors at Wall Street were not quite impressed by the results posted by the chipmaker organization as the stock of the tech company decline by 5% and was trading below $31 during the after-hour trading. We know now that the company does not depend on the sales of its personal computers anymore as the PC sales are only going towards extinction now. In the fourth quarter, the sales fell by 1% on year over year basis.

Additionally, apart from its traditional chip making business, Intel Corp has moved towards building next level Skylake Chips. Last year in June, the technology organization acquired Altera for a price of $16 billion with the help of which it is building programming chips. Every device that the company makes from now onwards will have these programming chips in them now, including robotics as well as data centers.

In the last four years, the PC market has declined quite drastically so now it completely relies on its data centers for generating revenue. From the previous year’s fourth quarter, the revenue generated by the data centers has grown by as much as 5% and is now at $4.3 billion. However in the previous quarter, the data centers saw an increase of 12% to $41 billion worth sales. In the server market, the major acquisition that took place last year is playing an essential role in terms of strengthening the company in the specific market.

On the other hand, Intel Corp has also signed a partnership deal with Ascending Technologies, a drone manufacturing organization, in order to enter the drone market. Furthermore, Internet of Things is quite big with Intel too as the sales have increased by 10% to $581 million.