Intel Corp. said today that a spike in the number of microprocessor units shipped helped it record an increase in its third-quarter revenue and income.

Intel reported third-quarter revenue of $10.1 billion, a 15% increase from the same period a year earlier. That performance beat Thomson Financial analysts’ estimates of $9.617 billion. The company also recorded net income of $1.9 billion, a 43% increase year over year.

The company reported earnings per share of 32 cents, matching analysts’ estimates.

Intel said that it shipped more than 2 million quad-core processors during the quarter.

Intel made a number of big announcements during the quarter, which ended Sept. 29. At the Intel Developer Forum in September, the company announced it will ramp up performance and energy efficiency in its microprocessors by using a 32-nanometer process technology, starting in 2009 with the Nehalem processors.

It also announced the next generation of vPro processor technology, a hardware and software combination for managing business desktop PCs.

The company estimated that its revenue for the fourth quarter would be in the range of $10.5 billion to $11.1 billion.