SAN FRANCISCO, Jan. 15 (Xinhua) -- Intel, the world's largest chipmaker, on Thursday posted a net income of 234 million U.S. dollars in the fourth quarter of 2008, 90 percent lower than the same period a year ago but still met expectations.

Quarterly earnings per share was 4 cents per share. In comparison, the company reported a net income of 2.3 billion U.S. dollars and earnings per share of 38 cents in the fourth quarter of 2007.

The chipmaker's revenue in the last three months in 2008 was 8.2 billion U.S. dollars, down 23 percent year over year.

For the whole year of 2008, the company reported revenue of 37.6 billion U.S. dollars, net income of 5.3 billion U.S. dollars and earnings per share of 92 cents.

Intel previously cut twice forecasts for the fourth-quarter revenue, blaming weakness in end demand and inventory reductions by customers in the global PC supply chain.

"The economy and the industry are in the process of resetting to a new baseline from which growth will resume," Paul Otellini, Intel president and chief executive, said in a statement.

"Our new technologies and new products will help us ignite market growth and thrive when the economy recovers," he added.

Intel is the first big tech firms that report fourth-quarter earnings, which is seen as an indication of the health of the tech industry hit by the economic downturn.

Intel's stocks rose 2.1 percent in after-hours trading on Thursday.