Intel, the world’s biggest chipmaker, disappointed Wall Street on Tuesday with fourth-quarter profits and sales below expectations and a cautious outlook for 2008.

The company blamed problems in its non-core memory chip business for exerting a drag on its results. Its shares fell 14 per cent in after-hours trading to $19.50 – its worse-than expected figures spooking the market a day after IBM had kicked off the reporting season with strong earnings.