The world’s largest chipmaker shot past the earning estimates from Wall Steet last week. The publicly-traded company reported a net income of $2.3 billion in the fourth quarter of 2009, up an amazing 875 percent from its $234 million earnings in the fourth quarter of 2008. This more than beat Wall Street expectations.

Since we are not stock brokers or investment bankers, we won’t go into details about the financial numbers, but we do want to point out a few key facts:

- Revenues in Q4 2009 rose to $10.6 billion, a climb of 28 percent from $8.3 billion last year.

- However, if you look at the big picture, Intel had a better 2008 than 2009. 2009 revenues were $35.1 billion, while 2008 revenues reached $37.6 billion. That’s a 7 percent difference

- Intel predicts revenues of approximately $9.7 billion in Q1 2010, above Wall Street estimates.

Intel’s Q4 report is one of the first to come out this year, but it won’t be the last. If Intel’s numbers are any indication though, we’re nearing the light at the end of the tunnel.