[originaltext] Intel based in California has gone from strength to strength s

Intel based in California has gone from strength to strength since launching the world’s first microprocessor, the brains inside a computer a quarter of a century ago. More than 80% of computers now use Intel chips. This success combined with the dominance of the software provided by Microsoft has helped fuel the steep rise in the sale of personal computers seen over the past ten years. Intel profits in the first three months of this year were more than 1.9 billion dollars compared with just under 900 million over the same period in 1996. Intel is putting much of this down to the success of the MMX launched in January and the enhanced version of the Pentium processor and enabling better computer graphics and sound. But at the same time, Intel warned that revenue in the next three months would be flat and competition is becoming more fierce as smaller rivals in the United States launch chips reckoned to be just as efficient but cheaper.