San Francisco Reflecting a sharply weaker economy, Intel, the world's largest maker of computer chips, slashed its fourth- quarter sales forecast Wednesday by more than 1 billion dollars.

The technology bellwether said it now expects sales to come in at 8.7 billion to 9.3 billion dollars, compared to an earlier prediction of between 10.1 billion and 10.9 billion dollars.

The company makes chips that power more than three-quarters of the world's computers.

Intel said that customers worldwide were "aggressively" chopping orders as they cope with falling sales. The revision signals how quickly the US economic slump is spreading around the world.

Also Wednesday, market research firm IDC downgraded its forecast of worldwide technology spending next year. The company predicted that spending will rise 2.6 per cent in 2009, down from an earlier growth estimate of 5.9 per cent. dpa