The section that cought my eye was : ------------------------------------------------------------ High-tech market research firm, In-Stat/MDR (http://www.MDRonline.com), estimates that Intel's processor ASP deteriorated sharply during 2001 and likely bottomed out at $165 in 4Q01. Overall ASPs recovered slightly in 2002 (if excluding X-Box processors) and could return to the $200+ levels in 2H03, based on increased shipments of high-ASP, 64-bit Itanium processors and overall economic improvements.
An ASP improvement of $35 (on about 120+ million units), directly contributes to a 4.2B in Annual profit. In addition even a $10-$20 reduction in manufacturing cost (process improvements), would yield another ~1.2b to 2.4B in profits. This doesn't even take into account increase in unit shipment since Y2001 or other cost reduction since 2001. INTC could really head to the moon, if the ducks line up (-: