has said it expects no revenue growth in 2014 and that its cunning plan appears to be wearable computers. Revenues at Intel's division which makes chips for desktop computers fell 4 per cent in 2013, from a year ago. Which is odd because Chipzilla has been telling everyone that desktop sales were stabilised.

According to its latest earnings, the PC chip division generated revenues of $8.6 billion in the October-to-December quarter of 2013, compared with $8.5 billion a year ago. Intel chief executive Brian Krzanich told the throngs that Intel had a solid fourth quarter with signs of stabilisation in the PC segment and financial growth from a year ago. For the full year 2013, the firm reported a net profit of $9.6 billion, down 13 per cent from a year ago.

Intel’s white knight was supposed to be its data centre business. Chipzilla did say that division's revenues rose eight per cent in the last quarter of 2013, from a year earlier. However, the rise was less than anyone thought it would be. Intel's chief financial officer, Stacy Smith, said the division's revenues in 2014 would probably come in toward the bottom of the previous estimate of 10 per cent to 15 per cent growth. So things are not going to get much better.

Intel has been trying to push itself into wearable technologies and the internet of things in the mistaken believe that consumer sales of something will help pull its nadgers out of the fire.