Intel have just announced that their fourth-quarter results are going to be lower than their previous outlook due to the Thailand floods and the resulting shortage on hard drive supplies. Intel now expects a fourth-quarter revenue of $13.7 billion, plus or minus $300 million, on both a GAAP and non-GAAP basis, lower than the previous expectation of $14.7 billion, plus or minus $500 million.

Sales of PCs are expected to be up sequentially in Q4. But, the worldwide PC supply chain is reducing inventories and microprocessor purchases as a result of hard disk drive supply shortages. Intel expects the HDD supply shortages to continue into Q1 2012, followed by a rebuilding of microprocessor inventories as supplies of HDDs recover during 1H 2012.

Intel expects the fourth-quarter gross margin to be 64.5-percent, plus or minus a couple of percentage points, lower than the previous expectations of 65-percent, plus or minus a few percentage points. The expectation for a non-GAAP gross margin is 65.5-percent, plus or minus a few percentage points, lower than the previous expectations of 66-percent, plus or minus a few percentage points.

All other expectations from Intel remain unchanged.