Intel, the world's biggest chipmaker, which employs more than 3,000 staff in the Republic, said yesterday it expected modest growth in third-quarter earnings over the preceding quarter.
Intel chief executive Mr Craig Barrett gave his assessment of the market for chips while attending a high-tech conference to mark the 30th anniversary of establishing Penang as Malaysia's hub for the industry.
"We see modest growth in the third quarter over the second quarter," Mr Barrett told a news conference.
"But we haven't seen much improvement in the computing environment because companies are not investing. When it turns around will be when companies start re-investing, I'm not forecasting when that will happen."
Earlier this month, Intel said it expected third-quarter revenues would be $6.9 billion, compared with an earlier forecast of $6.3 billion. Intel last month posted a net income of $446 million for the second quarter, at the lower end of market expectations. It also said it would cut 4,000 jobs, nearly 5 per cent of its workforce.
Mr Barrett also announced Intel would open an operations service centre in Malaysia, the first outside the United States. But he warned the country to invest more in research and development if it wanted to stay competitive.
With lower-cost sites like China and Vietnam becoming powerful competitors, Malaysia needed to add value to its product base to stay in the game, he said.
