Strange days indeed when a company can make $6.1 billion (#5.22 billion) in net profits and call it a tough year. But now that Intel has beaten the lard out of its numbers for the fourth quarter of 1998 - profits of $2.1 billion (#1.8 billion) instead of the expected $1.9 billion - analysts are saying that the big boy of computer chips is back at the races.

The company has already repositioned itself for a more picky computer market, with new chips aimed at low-end home users and top-of-the-range businesses.

Now it is tweaking the prices it charges for each chip, maximising its market share.

For example, the low-end Celeron, which began its life last August as a low-end chip at a mere $192, is now down to $90. Not only this, but the company's elephantine campus at Leixlip, Co Kildare, is playing a central part in the new drive for customers.

According to Intel, the Fab 14 plant just outside Dublin will soon be churning out Celerons, as well as Pentium II and Pentium III chips. For those in the business it could mean dusting off the old CV - according to a spokesman, after a recruitment freeze since last April, Intel is hiring again.