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The news suggests that the IT sector is so far avoiding the worst effects of a looming economic slowdown, which previous reports suggested would see many IT budgets slashed.

IBM

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impressed investors by increasing its net income by over a quarter and increasing sales revenue by 11%. The positive news caused a 2.5% rise in the company's share price.

"We feel good about the rest of the year," claims the CEO, Samuel Palmisano, explaining that the company is optimistic for future earnings.

Although Intel's $1.44 billion posted net profit for the first quarter of 2008 represents a drop from 2007's $1.64 billion, the figures still exceeded estimates from Wall Street. The company's revenue also rose by nearly a billion dollars compared to the previous year.

Google has also announced in recent weeks that it is recession-proof, as it is not "particularly dependent on any particular one market", according to CEO Eric Schmidt.