SANTA CLARA, Calif. — Intel Corp.'s chief executive said Tuesday that chip orders have been "a little better than we expected" so far in the second quarter, a sign that semiconductor sales are slowly improving.

The company's stock climbed nearly 3 percent in after-hours trading following Paul Otellini's comments during an analyst conference at Intel's Santa Clara headquarters.

Otellini said he stands by his remark last month that personal computer sales have "bottomed out" and are recovering from their worst slump in six years. He said he's convinced things are returning to normal seasonal patterns, and that Intel's results have been "so far, so good" in the second quarter.

The first and second quarters are typically the toughest for chip makers, since holidays and back-to-school are bigger PC-buying seasons.

By The Associated Press