[jasomill]

In 2011, 3% of Intel's revenue came from "software and services", up from 1% in 2010 [1]. They also acquired McAfee in late 2010. So it's probably safe to assume that compilers generate somewhat less than 1% of Intel's revenue, perhaps significantly less. But even if only 1% of that pre-McAfee 1% figure is compilers, that's still over $5 million (over $50 billion * .01 * .01), so I suspect Intel's compiler business profitably employs a number of full-time developers.

Microsoft's combined "servers and tools" operating segment represented nearly a quarter of its revenue and over 20% of its operating income last quarter [2], and while it's not immediately clear how much of this comes from the "tools" portion, I don't imagine it's anywhere near zero.

[1] http://www.microsoft.com/investor/EarningsAndFinancials/Fina... [2] http://www.intc.com/annuals.cfm