Intel Corporation today provided a planned update to the company's Business Outlook for the first quarter, which ends March 29.

Intel expects revenue to be between $6.6 billion and $6.8 billion, as compared to the previous range of $6.5 billion to $7.0 billion. The company's Intel Architecture business is trending slightly above expectations and continues to follow seasonal patterns. Intel's networking business, according to the conference call, is on track with the primary expectations, but flash-memory business is weaker than expected due to lower than anticipated flash memory sales. Intel’s Andy Bryan said that due to Intel’s high prices on flash-memory, the volume has dropped in this quarter.

The company expects the gross margin percentage to be slightly below the midpoint of the range of 50 percent, plus or minus a couple of points, due to higher than expected flash inventory reserves. Gains or losses from equity investments and interest and other are expected to be a net loss of $100 million, as compared to the previous expectation of a net loss of $125 million, primarily due to lower expected impairment charges on private equity investments. All other expectations are unchanged.