Intel CFO sees consistent gross margins

By Ian Sherr

SANTA CLARA, California (Reuters) - Intel Corp's (INTC.O) chief financial officer expects gross margins to remain consistent for the foreseeable future and said the chip maker is on track to meet its fourth-quarter outlook.

"A year ago, I would have been much more vague, or much less convinced in my conviction that the gross margin profile would have been the same," Stacy Smith told Reuters in an interview on Friday. "As we've ramped and as we've seen the market tick up, I have a much higher level of confidence."

Smith said Intel's product mix, which includes the mobile-oriented Atom chip, has helped cement gross margins in the low 60 percentage range.

"When I look out across the next five years in my crystal ball, I don't see a gross margin profile that's different from the profile we've seen in the past five years," said Smith.

Intel blew past Wall Street forecasts when it announced third-quarter earnings in October, setting the stage for a PC sector recovery. [ID:nLE126356] Intel makes 80 percent of the microprocessors at the heart of personal computers.

While factory utilization rates had dropped as the recession set in last year, Smith said things have begun to return to normal. Intel is targeting factory utilization of roughly 80-90 percent, he said.

(Reporting by Ian Sherr, editing by Tiffany Wu and Matthew Lewis)