Intel CEO Gelsinger says product constraints to continue into 2023
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Intel (NASDAQ:INTC) Chief Executive Pat Gelsinger said Wednesday that the semiconductor giant is seeing signs that product inventories are getting back to where they were before the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, but that supply issues will impact the chip industry for the foreseeable future.
Gelsinger spoke about Intel (INTC) and the lay of the land of the semiconductor market on a conference call to discuss the company's fourth quarter results. According to Gelsinger, the semiconductor industry "has never been more competitive," while Intel (INTC) completed a "transformational year" in 2021.
For the quarter ending December 25, Intel (INTC) reported a profit of $1.09 a share, excluding one-time items, on revenue of $19.53 billion, compared to earnings of $1.48 a share, on $18.9 billion in revenue in the same period a year ago.
Wall Street analysts had forecast Intel (INTC) to earn 79 cents a share on revenue of $18.36 billion.
Gelsinger said that Intel (INTC) is expecting to see business continue to improve this year, especially in areas such a data centers and personal computer segments. With regards to PCs, in particular, Gelsinger said Intel (INTC) "still sees the PC as becoming an essential part in the work-from-home environment." 
For the first quarter of this year, Intel (INTC) is forecasting earnings of 80 cents a share, or a 40% decline from a year ago, and revenue of $18.3 billion, which would be off by 1% on a year-over-year basis. Still, Intel's (INTC) outlook is better than analysts estimates for a profit of 79 cents a share, on $17.63 billion in sales.
In after-hours trading, Intel (INTC) shares slipped by more than 2%.
Gelsinger said that during the fourth quarter of last year, Intel (INTC) saw "unprecedented demand" for its products, but that the reality of supply issues can't be ignored.
"We expect to see [product] constraints to continue through 2022 and into 2023," Gelsinger said. 
Gelsinger noted that early Wednesday, Intel (INTC) won an appeal of a $1.2 billion fine that the European Union's antitrust regulator had slapped on the company back in 2009, and also said the company was "making good progress" with its plans to take Mobileye, its automobile chip business, public later this year.