Beating analyst expectations which had its revenue at $9 billion, Intel has revealed that in the third quarter of this year it has made sales of $9.4 billion, up $1.4 billion over Q2. These numbers result in the company's strongest second-to-third-quarter growth in over 30 years. In addition to the strong revenue, Intel has reported a Q3 profit of $1.9 billion, more than double that of Q2 which was $807 million.

Compared to Q3 of 2008, both revenue and net income is down but there are 'special times' due to global economic crisis.

"Intel's strong third-quarter results underscore that computing is essential to people's lives, proving the importance of technology innovation in leading an economic recovery," said Paul Otellini, Intel president and CEO. "This momentum in the current economic climate, plus our product leadership, gives us confidence about our business prospects going forward. As we look ahead, Intel's game-changing 32nm process technology will usher in another wave of innovation from new, powerful Intel Xeon server platforms to high-performance Intel Core processors to low-power Intel Atom processors."

Despite a slight dip in microprocessor ASP (average selling price), the Mobility Group's revenue was up 19% sequentially, while the Digital Enterprise Group posted a 14% increase in sales.

As for the current quarter which includes the lucrative holiday shopping season, Intel is predicting a revenue of $10.1 billion, plus/minus $400 million. Yep, it's still good to be Intel.