Dive Brief:

• Intel Corp reported better-than-expected quarterly results on Wednesday.

• Though demand for PCs that use the company’s chips continues to decline, demand for higher-margin chips used primarily in data centers improved.

• Company officials say demand is being generated by growing adoption of cloud services and increasing demands for data analytics.

Dive Insight:

Intel attributes the good news to increased revenue from its data center business, which grew 9.7% to $3.85 billion. Revenue from Intel’s PC business, meanwhile, fell 13.5%.

More broadly, research firm Gartner forecast global PC shipments to fall 4.4% to 300 million units in 2015. Some experts say PC purchases are declining as companies switch to tablets and laptops to cut costs and allow workers to experience the benefits of mobile technology, while others say it’s simply because today’s PCs last longer than PCs of years past.