The poor economy put a hurt on many technology firms including industry giants like Microsoft and Intel. As the economy starts to turn around, many enterprises and consumers are starting to spend on technology again.

Intel reported its best ever first quarter results in April with profit of $2.3 billion working out to 43 cents per share. As good as the numbers for Intel were in Q1, Q2 is even better. Intel has unveiled its Q2 2010 earnings and reported the best quarter in the history of the company.

Intel posted revenue of $10.8 billion for Q2 2010, which is a gain of $466 million compared to Q1 2010 and up $2.7 billion compared to Q2 2009 during some of the darkest days of the economy. Operating income for Q2 2010 was $4 billion, a gain of $533 million compared to last quarter and a gain of 100% from Q2 2009.

Earnings per share for Q2 2010 were 51 cents, up 8 cents from last quarter and up 58 cents from Q2 2009. If Intel excludes the big $1.45 billion fine levied against it in Q2 2009, the growth is still impressive with revenue up 34% and earnings per share up 183%.

"Strong demand from corporate customers for our most advanced microprocessors helped Intel achieve the best quarter in the company's 42-year history," said Paul Otellini, Intel president and CEO. "Our process technology lead plus compelling architectural designs increasingly differentiate Intel-based products in the marketplace. The PC and server segments are healthy and the demand for leading-edge technology will continue to increase for the foreseeable future."

Highlights for Q2 2010 according to Intel include Atom CPU and chipset revenue growth of $413 million. The ASP for microprocessors was up slightly as well according to the chipmaker. The gross margin for the quarter was 67%, 3% higher than Intel had predicted. Intel also made predictions for Q3 2010 with revenue of $11.6 billion plus or minus $400 million.