The global market for personal computers has been stagnant for a while now, and Intel this morning delivered some bad news for Microsoft as the Redmond company looks ahead to the upcoming Windows 8 launch.

Intel reduced its forecast for its third-quarter revenue, saying it expects the number to range from $12.9 billion to $13.5 billion, down from its previous forecast of $13.8 billion to $14.8 billion. And the PC market is to blame.

The chipmaker says in a news release, “Relative to the prior forecast, the company is seeing customers reducing inventory in the supply chain versus the normal growth in third-quarter inventory; softness in the enterprise PC market segment; and slowing emerging market demand.”

Evercore Partners analyst Patrick Wang tells Bloomberg News, “It’s worse than everyone expected. … Their consumer PC business is getting whacked.”

The PC market is facing strong competition from the growing array of tablets, as more consumers start to view iPads and other devices as viable alternatives to low-end Windows notebooks for mobile computing. Microsoft is trying to address that trend with a new Windows 8 interface designed with tablets in mind. Windows 8 hits the market on Oct. 26.

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