"The PC market around the world is continuing to grow a little bit faster than we would have forecasted a quarter ago,'' John Antone, head of the company's Asia operations, said Wednesday in a telephone interview. "It's not just China, but all the emerging countries are doing very well right now.''

China, India and other developing economies fueled sales of Intel's processors, helping the company's second-quarter revenue rise 8.4 percent to US$8.68 billion, beating the US$8.54 billion average of 24 analysts' estimates in a Bloomberg survey. The Santa Clara, California-based chipmaker said Tuesday its profit in the period rose 44 percent to US$1.28 billion.

``There's a pretty significant upside to be had by getting the price of the PC down and getting the product available to more people, and we're seeing that happen,'' Antone said from Santa Clara. ``We definitely saw that in Q2.''

Asia accounted for 51 percent of Intel's sales in the second- quarter, Antone said. China, India and Southeast Asian nations led the growth, while revenue growth from Japan and South Korea was flat, he said, without giving figures.