Intel posts fastest revenue growth in 15 years as AI spending drives data center boom

Intel knows it needs to 'leapfrog' ARM and AMD, says CEO Lip-Bu Tan

Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan has acknowledged that the semiconductor giant must catch up to rivals AMD and Arm, and said it now assumes edge AI and robotics will be a business as big as PCs. Tan made those remarks during Intel's Q2 earnings call, which saw the company report $16.1 billion revenue - a 25 percent year-on-year increase. "Q2 was another quarter of solid execution," the CEO said. "Revenue, gross margin, and earnings per share were above our guidance. This marks the seventh consecutive quarter of exceeding our financial expectations." Yet it didn't deliver a profit as Intel reported a GAAP loss of $11 billion (and a non-GAAP loss of $2.2 billion). Tan remained optimistic about Intel's prospects, thanks to the AI boom spurring demand for many of its products, and its foundry service. "Our core server CPU franchise is growing faster than ever," the CEO said, before observing the Xeon 6 range "continues to be one of the fastest-ramping products in Intel's history." That may be the case, but Intel's hyperscale customers have designed their own Arm-powered CPUs and are deploying so many that analyst firm IDC recently found non-x86 servers now account for almost half of all sales. Intel's great rival, AMD, has grown its market share to a third of the x86 server market. During the earnings call, Morgan Stanley analyst Joe Moore asked Tan how he plans to regain market share. Tan pointed to Intel's forthcoming Clearwater Forest, Diamond Rapids, and Coral Rapids processors as evidence the company is creating products that can compete with anyone. "Some areas we are still behind," he admitted, "but we are catching up very fast and we try to leapfrog some of the CPU architecture, and we are putting major effort into it. Time will tell." Tan is also pondering time in terms of how component shortages impact the company's sales and revenue. "The industry is facing one of the most severe supply constraints in its history, across leading-edge logic silicon wafers, memory, and substrates," he said. "These shortages will persist for the foreseeable future." Intel is of course a big player in the semiconductor supply chain, and Tan offered the happy news that wafer output across its major manufacturing nodes exceeded expectations from 90 days ago, and that yields from its leading-edge 18A process "are trending ahead of targets." The CEO also said, "supply remains very tight and the near-term linearity of our supply growth is more skewed towards the end of Q3 and into Q4, especially for servers." He had slightly better news about Intel's foundry business, which is developing an advanced manufacturing process called 14A that could make Chipzilla a more formidable competitor to TSMC. "We remain on track for 14A risk production for our internal products in the second half of 2027, and we made the decision in Q2 to fully commit to high volume ramp in 2028," Tan said. Intel's current flagship 18A process is also going well. "In our core PC client segment, Intel 18A is now in volume production across multiple commercial and consumer products," Tan said. "Our factory output continues to increase sequentially every month. The successful high volume ramp of 18A for our internal products provides important validations as Intel Foundry engages with external customers." The CEO added his view that "We still have work to do to establish a strong footprint in the edge and physical AI ecosystem but see this opportunity as an important future growth driver." So important that Intel recently renamed its PC business the "Client Computing and Physical AI Group" (CCPG). That change is more than cosmetic, because CFO David Zinsner said Intel believes "the edge and physical AI opportunity is likely to at least match the client TAM [total addressable market] over time." That would make edge and physical AI an $8 billion business, given that in this quarter Intel said ten percent of CCPG's $8.9 billion revenue came from edge products. Overall CCPG revenue rose 13 percent year-over-year, growth that Intel found pleasantly surprising. Zinsner said the PC market is "softer" in part due to "the memory dynamics in the marketplace," and predicted Q3 performance will fall. ®

Intel rises as strong forecasts signal AI boost for turnaround

July 24 (Reuters) - Intel's (INTC.O), opens new tab shares rose 6% in premarket trading on Friday after bullish forecasts signaled the AI boom was propelling the chipmaker's long-awaited turnaround. The company forecast third-quarter revenue above Wall Street expectations and raised this year's capital expenditure estimate to $20 billion from $18 billion. Intel's improving outlook reflects growing adoption of its data center central processing units (CPUs) by customers building infrastructure for artificial intelligence, as CEO Lip-Bu Tan works to position the company as a broader beneficiary of AI-driven semiconductor demand despite Nvidia's (NVDA.O), opens new tab lead in ⁠accelerator chips. "The capex increase not only signals confidence in cash flow upside and demand visibility from long-term agreements for products, but also confidence that Foundry customers are coming (for packaging and 14A wafers)," analysts at Melius Research said. This month's selloff in global chip stocks has pushed Intel off record highs, but the shares have more than doubled this year, driven by optimism around the company's turnaround efforts. The strong results prompted at least six analysts to raise ⁠their price targets, leaving the median target about 8.8% above the stock's last close, according to data compiled by LSEG. Tan has spent the past year strengthening Intel's finances, securing backing from the U.S. government and major investors as the ⁠chipmaker seeks to play a key role in Washington's push to revive domestic semiconductor manufacturing. "The aggressive capex raise is a proof point that Intel is likely to ⁠see continued customer acquisition as the United States demands more domestic semiconductor manufacturing," D.A. Davidson analysts said. Demand for data center CPUs has surged alongside ⁠the rise of AI agents, with Intel executives noting earlier this year that orders were running ahead of the company's production capacity. Reporting by Joel Jose in Bengaluru; Editing by Amanda Cooper and Devika Syamnath Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles., opens new tab

Intel Benefits From a New Shift in A.I. Spending

The artificial intelligence boom has lifted chipmakers including Nvidia, Micron and South Korea's SK Hynix. Now Intel, which has begun rebounding from a lengthy slump, is benefiting from a new shift in A.I. spending. Tech firms are not only buying A.I. chips known as graphics processing units, made by companies like Nvidia, but also increasingly purchasing microprocessors known as central processing units -- which are exactly what Intel makes. The bonanza was evident on Thursday when Intel reported its financial results. The Silicon Valley company said its revenue had risen 25 percent to $16.1 billion in its latest quarter, driven by nearly 60 percent growth in its data center segment, which includes the chips that power A.I. applications and cloud services. The results and a projection for further growth were well above what Wall Street had expected, pushing Intel's stock up nearly 9 percent at one point in after-hours trading. "A.I. is driving unprecedented demand for compute," Lip-Bu Tan, Intel's chief executive, said in a statement, adding that the revenue growth was the strongest in 15 years. Intel is still losing money from layoff costs and related restructuring charges that Mr. Tan ordered after taking the top job last year. The company lost $11 billion in the latest quarter, more than the $2.9 billion loss from a year earlier. The wider loss stemmed from a revaluation of shares held in escrow in connection with an $8.9 billion investment that the U.S. government made in Intel last year. But Intel's upward trajectory has been unmistakable, and its stock quadrupled between Jan. 1 and the end of June. Much of this has been powered by the change in A.I. spending. Earlier in the A.I. boom, buyers wanted Nvidia's GPU chips, which can do many simpler chores simultaneously. Central processing units, or CPUs, served a role in A.I. servers but might be outnumbered at least four to one by GPUs. More recently, A.I. products called "agents," which can "reason" and act on information, have become more popular. These programs require a greater proportion of microprocessors to run. As a result, research firms such as Creative Strategies have predicted that A.I. data centers will increasingly buy roughly the same number of CPUs and GPUs. "It is not just a GPU game anymore," Santosh Janardhan, Meta's head of infrastructure and co-head of engineering, said recently. "CPUs are becoming at least as important, if not more." This shift benefits not only Intel but its rival Advanced Micro Devices, which has steadily taken market share in data center servers and successfully developed GPUs for A.I. jobs. On Thursday, AMD unveiled more powerful CPUs and GPUs, as well as new "rack-scale" systems -- complete computing boxes taller than a refrigerator -- that integrate CPUs, GPUs, networking, data storage and other technology. Anthropic, a leading A.I. start-up, has also committed to buying the new hardware from AMD -- which estimated the value of the deal at tens of billions of dollars -- and will receive an investment of up to $5 billion from the chipmaker. OpenAI, Anthropic's rival, also said it would use AMD's new rack-scale system. Nvidia, meanwhile, has pushed its own microprocessors for A.I., including a new model called Vera. Huge data center operators like Amazon, Microsoft and Google have also developed custom microprocessors. Intel still retains some unique assets, including its own network of factories. It competes with Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, the biggest maker of advanced chips, in both building chips and the increasingly important task of packaging them to work together. That so-called foundry service has recently landed customers such as Apple, which had been relying almost entirely on TSMC. Intel said growth in sales of its server chips over the last year had been the strongest on record, with its latest version, Xeon 6, one of its fastest-selling products ever. Though demand for such data center products is strong, Intel said this week that it had trimmed some employees in that business to improve efficiency. It did not disclose numbers. The company added that the productivity of its latest manufacturing technology was improving and that its foundry business had grown 31 percent to $5.8 billion, though the unit posted an operating loss of $2.1 billion.

AI Hype Delivers Intel Its Fastest Revenue Growth in 15 Years

The AI infrastructure buildout is so massive that it has brought a once-ailing Intel back from the dead. The chipmaker recorded its fastest revenue growth in 15 years this past quarter, driven almost entirely, it seems, by rising chip demand from AI data centers. In the second quarter of 2026, Intel's revenue was up 25% from the same time last year, with a 59% increase alone from its data center and AI business, according to the company's earnings report. Once America's leading chip giant, Intel lost its crown to other chipmakers, particularly the GPU king Nvidia, and watched sales plunge. The situation got dire enough that the previous CEO, Pat Gelsinger, was pretty much ousted in December 2024; the new CEO, Lip-Bu Tan, took over in March 2025 with promises of a major comeback; and the Trump administration stepped in with a 10% stake in August. Trump and his administration have reportedly been crucial in facilitating deals between Intel and Silicon Valley AI giants like SpaceX, Apple and Nvidia, further securing Intel a place in AI hype. Intel's turnaround story has also coincided with a renaissance period of sorts for central processing units, aka CPUs. GPUs are traditionally associated with AI hype, but CPUs are more Intel's playing field. As enthusiasm around agentic AI grew, CPUs have taken on a renewed role as they are largely considered well-suited for tasks that are at the core of agentic systems like inference workloads. "Our data center-AI group delivered a solid quarter. Demand accelerated across cloud and enterprise as customers increasingly recognize the critical role that CPUs in general and x86 CPUs in particular play in the AI infrastructure," Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan said in the company's earnings call on Thursday. Memory crisis continues testing PCs But even though the boom in its AI business seems to be serving it well, Intel's main bread and butter is still the chips it makes for PCs. While revenue from the AI and data center business enjoyed a massive 59% rise, the client computing segment (recently renamed to client computing and physical AI group) had a 13% rise in revenue from the same time last year. PC sales and prices have been battered in the past year due to an AI-driven memory chip crisis. Chipmakers have largely shifted focus to address the booming demand from the massive AI data center buildout, leaving high-bandwidth memory chip supply restricted for consumer electronics like PCs and smartphones. With demand still high and supply limited, prices have risen for consumers while sales have suffered. Worldwide PC shipments had their first decline in two years this year, according to International Data Corporation research from earlier this month. Global smartphone shipments have also hit a record low this year due to the same culprit. Intel is expecting the memory shortage to continue hitting PC sales through at least the rest of the year, too. "We expect PC consumption to be sub-seasonal in the second half of the year, and down low double digits percent for all of 2026, impacted by rising memory prices and constraints," Intel CFO David Zinsner said in the earnings call.

Intel posts its highest rate of revenue growth in 15 years, crushing expectations in its latest results

Chipmaker Intel Corp. delivered better-than-expected results today after recording its fastest rate of revenue growth for any quarter since 2011. It also provided guidance that topped analyst's expectations, sending its stock higher in after-hours trading. The company absolutely crushed expectations, reporting earnings before certain costs such as stock compensation coming to 42 cents per share, way ahead of Wall Street's 21 cent-per-share consensus estimate. Revenue for the period grew 25% to $16.1 billion, surpassing the $14.42 billion analyst forecast by a wide margin too. Intel's stock posted a modest gain of just over 3% in the late trading session, but its performance over the entire year has been much more impressive. The shares have now gained more than 170% in the year to date, having jumped 84% last year after the U.S. government revealed its plan to take a 10% stake in the company in order to support the domestic chip industry. That said, Intel's stock had been in a bit of a slump this month prior to today's results, losing 28% of its value in July before today's results arrested that slide. Intel's momentum this year has to do with the artificial intelligence infrastructure boom that originally passed the company by. In recent months, many companies have come to realize the important role Intel's central processing units can play in running so-called AI agents that autonomously perform work on behalf of humans. CPUs can help to make those workloads run with far greater efficiency than graphics processing units alone. Consequently, its server processors are selling like hot cakes these days, said Chief Executive Lip-Bu Tan (pictured). "AI is driving unprecedented demand for compute, and as we continue to execute, Intel is well-positioned to capture sustainable growth across our CPU franchise," he added. For the current quarter, Intel said it's targeting earnings of around 38 cents per share on sales of between $15.8 billion and $16.8 billion. That's better than expected, with Wall Street analysts looking for more modest earnings of just 27 cents per share on sales of $15.1 billion. Part of the reason for Intel's confidence is its ability to craft long-term deals with customers over its server CPUs, with some contracts locking in pricing and others focused on chip volume. These kinds of deals have become increasingly common in the chip industry as companies struggle to secure enough silicon to meet their needs. It's especially true in the memory chip business, where demand exceeds that of server chips and memory chip makers are taking full advantage. Chief Financial Officer David Zinsner told analysts on a conference call that its ability to supply server chips to customers is currently constrained, with demand exceeding what it has the ability to manufacture. "Customers continue to signal a strong and sustainable spending environment," he insisted. Despite server chips seeing all of the new demand, Intel's client computing group, which makes chips for personal computers, raked in the most revenue at $8.9 billion. But its 13% revenue growth was far outpaced by that of the data center and AI units, where sales jumped 59% to $6.3 billion in the quarter. Intel said the global memory shortages are likely to hurt PC sales going forward, and it believes revenue in the client computing group will be flat next quarter. To try and meet the growing demand for server chips, Intel is going to target a "meaningful increase" in its capital expenditures, as part of its platform to ramp up manufacturing, not only for its own chips, but those ordered by other companies. Zinsner said Intel's newest 14A manufacturing process is currently ahead of where older processes were at this point in their lifecycle. It has helped to generate a 31% increase in the Intel foundry segment's revenue, which totaled $5.8 billion during the quarter. "I did want to give investors a clear line of sight to expect that the number will be up," Zinsner said on the call with analysts, adding that most of the new capex would go towards tooling up new factories. However, Intel still has not named a single major customer that has agreed to manufacture chips using its most advanced process, despite speculation that it soon will. Intel Foundry primarily serves Intel itself, although it has signed up smaller players such as Fortinet Inc., which is using an older process to make security-focused chips.

Intel Stock Jumps as Earnings Blow Past Expectations Amid Booming AI Demand

Get personalized, AI-powered answers built on 27+ years of trusted expertise. Intel's stock is soaring after another stronger-than-expected quarter. Shares of Intel (INTC) were up more than 5% in recent after-hours trading after the company posted earnings that blew past analysts' estimates. Intel reported adjusted earnings per share of 42 cents on revenue that jumped 15% year-over-year to $16.1 billion, well above the adjusted EPS of 22 cents on revenue of $14.43 billion analysts surveyed by Visible Alpha called for. The company said it expects third-quarter revenue of $15.8 billion to $16.8 billion, and EPS of 38 cents, which are both well above the analyst consensus. CEO Lip-Bu Tan, who took over the helm of the struggling chipmaker in March of 2025, said Intel recorded its strongest revenue growth in more than 15 years, thanks to strong demand for its AI hardware. "AI is driving unprecedented demand for compute, and as we continue to execute, Intel is well-positioned to capture sustainable growth across our CPU franchise, ASICs, advanced packaging and vast wafer foundry network," Tan said in a release. CFO David Zinsner told investors during the company's earnings call that Intel's AI-driven business grew more than 70% and accounted for approximately 70% of revenue. The CFO also said the company is "meaningfully increasing" its investments in equipment and space to meet demand, which continues to outpace supply. Earlier in the year, the CFO had warned of supply pressures as the company contends with industry-wide shortages of certain components. Intel said it now expects capital expenditures this year could exceed $20 billion, up from $18 billion previously. Though shares of Intel have pulled back from last month's highs in recent weeks, the stock remains one of the best-performing in the S&P 500 for the year after a flurry of high-profile agreements and better-than-expected results. Shares of Intel were up around 170% for 2026 through Thursday's close.

Intel's Earnings Breakout: Can AI Power a Lasting Revival? - Intel beats estimates with blockbuster quarter

Intel's Earnings Breakout: Can AI Power a Lasting Revival? 1/5 Intel beats estimates with blockbuster quarter Intel delivered a much stronger-than-expected second quarter, reporting revenue of $16.13 billion and adjusted earnings of 42 cents per share, comfortably topping Wall Street forecasts. The performance marked the chipmaker's fastest revenue growth in over 15 years, driven by surging demand for AI-related computing. (Sources: CNBC, Bloomberg, Reuters) 2/5 AI data center business powers growth The biggest driver of Intel's turnaround was its Data Center and AI segment, where revenue jumped 59% year-on-year to $6.3 billion. Growing demand for AI infrastructure and enterprise server processors helped the company regain momentum as businesses ramped up investments in artificial intelligence. 3/5 Strong guidance boosts investor confidence Intel also issued an upbeat outlook for the third quarter, forecasting revenue of $15.8-$16.8 billion and adjusted earnings of 38 cents per share, well above analyst expectations. The company said AI-driven demand for CPUs and enterprise computing continues to strengthen, supporting its optimistic guidance. 4/5 Foundry business gains traction Intel's foundry division continued to improve, generating $5.77 billion in quarterly revenue. The company highlighted progress in securing customers for its advanced manufacturing technologies, including work on its next-generation 14A process, while increasing its 2026 capital expenditure plans to support future growth. 5/5 Shares rally as turnaround gathers pace The better-than-expected earnings and strong outlook sent Intel shares sharply higher in after-hours trading. Investors welcomed signs that the company's AI strategy, expanding data center business and manufacturing roadmap are helping revive growth after years of intense competition in the semiconductor industry.

Intel CEO: Strong AI, x86 Demand Driving Growth As Foundry, Manufacturing Execution Improve

'Our core message is simple: Strong demand for our products continues to outpace our growing supply. Our design manufacturing execution is improving, and operating discipline we put in place 15 months ago is beginning to show tangible results. Today, we are seeing the strongest revenue growth in more than 15 years,' says Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan. Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan used his company's second fiscal quarter 2026 financial conference call to tell analysts the chipmaker is improving execution, manufacturing and operations as it looks to capitalize on demand for x86 processors, AI infrastructure, advanced packaging and foundry services. During his prepared remarks, Tan said Intel beat guidance for revenue, gross margin and earnings per share, marking the seventh consecutive quarter of exceeding financial expectations. "Our core message is simple: Atrong demand for our products continues to outpace our growing supply," he said. "Our design manufacturing execution is improving, and operating discipline we put in place 15 months ago is beginning to show tangible results. Today, we are seeing the strongest revenue growth in more than 15 years." [Related: Intel Confirms Data Center Group Layoffs Ahead Of Q2 Results] The results reflect internal changes designed to make Intel faster and more customer-focused, including better design and manufacturing execution, tighter operating discipline and closer customer engagement, Tan said. For instance, he said Intel's expanded Google Cloud collaboration is part of a broader push to run the company with an AI-first mentality throughout its operations. Tan said the AI buildout is creating openings across Intel's product and foundry businesses at a time when the industry is constrained on leading-edge logic, wafers, memory and substrates. "Intel is well positioned to benefit from this strong, sustained demand with three strategically important assets: our X86 CPU franchise, our advanced packaging technology and our vast wafer foundry network," he said. "As AI expands from training to inference, and increasingly to agentic and multi-agent systems, general-purpose server CPU density continues to increase, and our core server CPU franchise is growing faster than ever." For partners, customers and OEMs looking for alternatives in a constrained semiconductor market, Tan positioned Intel Foundry as central to the company's comeback effort. Intel 7, Intel 3 and Intel 18A factories beat internal volume targets on better yields, faster cycle times and more wafer starts, he said. Intel 18A output increased during the quarter, with yields running ahead of expectations as Intel ramps several products on the node, Tan said. "We are now ramping multiple new products on 18A while supporting growing demand for our lead products, including Panther Lake and Wildcat Lake," he said. "I keep raising the bar on the internal targets, and the team continues to meet the challenge." Tan said Intel 14A is progressing, with defect density and transistor performance ahead of where 18A was at the same stage. "We continue to build out and validate the IT portfolio for 14A as we position the 14A family for broad-based adoptions across a wide range of customers," he said. "I'm pleased to see the increasing momentum on customer engagements for Intel 14A, and I'm increasingly confident that 14A will be a highly competitive process offering across key vectors of performance, power, density, cost and schedule." Intel's Data Center AI Group delivered a solid quarter as customers increasingly focus on the role of x86 CPUs in AI infrastructure, Tan said. The second quarter's year-over-year server processor growth was the strongest on record, while Xeon 6 remains one of the fastest-ramping products in Intel's history, he said. Intel CFO and Executive Vice President David Zinsner in his prepared remarks said that Intel's Data Center AI Group launched Xeon 6+, code-named Clearwater Forest, the company's first server-class product on 18A. The team also announced rack-scale and disaggregated inference innovations with partners Sambanova and Foxconn, Zinsner said. "In addition, DCAI further enhanced our connectivity offerings by introducing new controller and adapter products supporting data center, enterprise and telco applications," he said. Intel's design services business is also emerging as an opportunity, with revenue nearly tripling year over year, Tan said. Intel can combine its x86 franchise, IP, design capabilities, wafer manufacturing and advanced packaging to develop purpose-built AI-era networking, compute and accelerator products, he said. Tan said Intel's priorities are to strengthen its x86 product leadership and establish Intel Foundry as a world-class wafer and packaging foundry business. "Our strategy is clear, and the pace of execution is accelerating," he said. "Opportunities in front of us are substantial. Our strategy is showing earlier results, and I'm confident that Intel is well positioned to help define the next era of computing." Working With Intel: Nor-Tech Dominic Daninger, vice president of engineering at Nor-Tech, a Minneapolis-based custom system builder focused primarily on servers for high-performance computing, told CRN that while Intel rival AMD has recently been giving Intel a good dose of healthy competition, it's good to see Intel regaining its competitive edge. "We don't want just one dominant vendor out there," Daninger said. "Competition breeds health on both sides. That's the way we look at it. Both companies have been good partners over the years. We use some of each." Daninger said he has not seen much lessening of component shortages from Intel. However, he said, Nor-Tech is still seeing fairly healthy lead times of six to eight weeks, sometimes a little worse. "If Intel cuts those lead times, it would help us respond faster to customer acquisitions," he said. "A lot of what we run into is pretty high-end as far as the dollars involved. If we can forecast ahead, that helps because very few people spend $100,000 to $200,000 to maybe $500,000 without quite a lead time." Intel By The Numbers For its second fiscal quarter 2026, which ended June 27, Intel reported total revenue of $16.13 billion, up 25.4 percent over the $12.86 billion the company reported for its second fiscal quarter 2025. This included Intel Client Computing and Physical AI Group revenue of $8.9 billion, up 13 percent over last year; Data Center and AI Group revenue of $6.3 billion, up 59 percent; Intel Foundry revenue of $5.8 billion, up 31 percent; and other revenue of $700 million, down 33 percent. That revenue was partially offset with intersegment eliminations of $5.5 billion. Total revenue beat analyst expectations by $1.65 billion, according to Seeking Alpha. Intel also reported a GAAP net loss for the quarter of $11.03 billion, or $2.16 per share, which was significantly higher than last year's loss of $2.92 billion, or 67 cents per share. On a non-GAAP basis, the company reported net income of $2.20 billion, or 42 cents per share, significantly better than last year's net loss of $441 million, or 10 cents per share. Non-GAAP net income beat analyst expectations by 20 cents per share, according to Seeking Alpha. Looking ahead, Intel expects third fiscal quarter 2026 revenue of between $15.8 billion and $16.8 billion, up significantly from the $13.7 billion the company reported for its third fiscal quarter 2025. The company also said it expects to report GAAP third-quarter 2026 earnings of 31 cents per share and non-GAAP earnings of 38 cents per share. That compares with last year's GAAP earnings of 90 cents per share and non-GAAP earnings of 23 cents per share.

Intel's AI Boom Raked in $2.5 Billion -- Then Its Foundry Lost 84% of It - Intel (NASDAQ:INTC)

The Data Center and AI (DCAI) division generated $2.5 billion in operating income, while Intel Foundry posted a $2.1 billion operating loss. Put side by side, the foundry loss equaled 84% of the operating profit generated by Intel's fastest-growing major division. * INTC stock is moving after earnings. See the chart and price action here. Chips Business Fires on All Cylinders DCAI revenue reached $6.3 billion, up 59% year-over-year from $3.9 billion, as hyperscalers and enterprises kept buying server processors for AI workloads. Operating margin expanded from 16.1% a year ago to 39.5%. CFO Dave Zinsner said the jump reflected higher revenue, improved product margins and lower operating expenses, calling the roughly $1 billion sequential gain in operating profit meaningfully ahead of expectations. The Client Computing and Physical AI Group added $8.9 billion in revenue, up 13% to 15%, at a 26% operating margin, giving Intel's two product segments a combined $4.8 billion of operating profit. Foundry Narrows the Gap, But Stays Red Intel Foundry revenue climbed to $5.8 billion, up 31% year-over-year, driven by stronger fab volumes on the Intel 18A process, which ran roughly 25% above target and more than 50% higher quarter-over-quarter. The operating loss narrowed to $2.1 billion from $3.2 billion a year earlier, an improvement of $348 million sequentially. Zinsner credited stronger yields, faster cycle times, and increased factory scale across Intel 43 and 18A for the improved wafer costs. Tension in Intel's Comeback Total revenue hit $16.1 billion, up 25% year-over-year, the fastest growth rate since 2011, and non-GAAP earnings per share of 42 cents doubled the 21 cents consensus estimate, per Benzinga Pro. Shares jumped as much as 12% in after-hours trading following the report. AI-related server demand is reviving Intel's most profitable franchise, but the cost of rebuilding manufacturing competitiveness continues to consume most of that operating contribution. At the current run rate, Intel Foundry is losing roughly $8 billion annually with no confirmed break-even date, even as management touts narrowing losses and rising external interest as proof the turnaround under CEO Lip-Bu Tan is gaining traction. INTC Stock Price Activity: Intel stock was up 3.15% at $103.39 during premarket trading Friday, according to Benzinga Pro data. Over the past month, INTC has declined about 22.3% versus a 0.4% rise in the S&P 500 and is up roughly 174% year-to-date compared to the index's 7.7% gain. This content was partially produced with the help of AI tools and was reviewed and published by Benzinga editors. Market News and Data brought to you by Benzinga APIs To add Benzinga News as your preferred source on Google, click here.

Intel Earnings Spark Bullish Reactions as Jim Cramer Calls 'Intel's the One,' Gene Munster Says Investors

Cheers For Cheer AI-Driven Quarter CNBC's Jim Cramer called Intel "the one" after the results and said listening to the company was "to listen to seasoned team that counts every penny before it spends it." Patrick Moorhead, CEO and chief analyst of Moor Insights & Strategy, said no one should be surprised Intel "crushed earnings," citing unprecedented demand for data center CPUs driven by agentic AI, pricing gains, higher volumes, and improving supply. Future Equities' Shay Boloor called Intel's quarter a "victory lap" and added that the company's expanding AI portfolio, strengthening foundry business and disciplined capital allocation show a "second growth curve" driven by agentic AI. CapEx Plans Become The Biggest Talking Point Deepwater Asset Management's Gene Munster said Intel's decision to raise its capital spending outlook shows growing confidence in long-term customer commitments after the management said it would not increase investment without demand to support it. "If you're an Intel investor, you've got to be counting your blessings," Munster said in an interview with CNBC. At the same time, Munster said higher capital expenditures could weigh on the stock in the near term, while adding that Intel investors "can sleep well at night" knowing the company's 14A process technology could become a major catalyst in 2028. Earnings Intel reported second-quarter revenue of $16.13 billion, topping analyst estimates of $14.42 billion. Adjusted earnings came in at 42 cents per share, well above the consensus estimate of 21 cents, according to Benzinga Pro. Price Action: Shares of INTC fell 2.33% to $100.23 but gained 4.37% in extended trading on the earnings announcement after the bell. Benzinga edge rankings indicate INTC has a Momentum score in the 99th percentile, while it has a negative price trend in the short term and a positive price trend in the medium and long term. Disclaimer: This content was partially produced with the help of AI tools and was reviewed and published by Benzinga editors. Photo Courtesy: michelmond on Shutterstock.com Photo courtesy: katz / Shutterstock.com Market News and Data brought to you by Benzinga APIs To add Benzinga News as your preferred source on Google, click here.

Intel Posts Strongest Revenue Growth in 15 Years on 'Unprecedented' AI Demand - Intel (NASDAQ:INTC)

* Intel stock is trending. What's pulling on INTC shares? Intel Q2 Earnings Highlights Intel posted second-quarter revenue of $16.13 billion, beating analyst estimates of $14.42 billion. The company reported second-quarter adjusted earnings of 42 cents per share, doubling estimates of 21 cents per share, according to Benzinga Pro. Total revenue in the quarter was up 25% on a year-over-year basis. Here's a breakdown of revenue by category: * Client Computing and Physical AI Group: $8.9 billion, up 13% year-over-year * Data Center and AI: $6.3 billion, up 59% year-over-year * Intel Foundry: $5.8 billion, up 31% year-over-year * Total Intel Products: $15.1 billion, up 28% year-over-year * All Other: $700 million, down 33% year-over-year Intel generated $7 billion in cash from operations during the quarter and ended the period with approximately $12.87 billion in cash and cash equivalents. "AI is driving unprecedented demand for compute, and as we continue to execute, Intel is well-positioned to capture sustainable growth across our CPU franchise, ASICs, advanced packaging and vast wafer foundry network," said Lip-Bu Tan, CEO of Intel. "Our Q2 results represent our strongest revenue growth in more than fifteen years, enabled by greater speed, accountability, and customer focus." Intel expects third-quarter revenue to be in the range of $15.8 billion to $16.8 billion versus estimates of $15.01 billion. The company anticipates third-quarter adjusted earnings of 38 cents per share versus estimates of 24 cents per share. Intel executives will further discuss the quarter on an earnings call with investors and analysts at 5 p.m. ET. INTC Shares Rise After The Bell INTC Price Action: Intel shares were up 8.15% in after-hours Thursday, trading at $108.40 at the time of publication, according to Benzinga Pro. Image: Shutterstock.com Market News and Data brought to you by Benzinga APIs To add Benzinga News as your preferred source on Google, click here.

Intel climbs premarket after AI-fueled quarterly sales exceed estimates By Investing.com

Investing.com - Intel shares rose by more than 4% in premarket trading on Friday after the U.S. chipmaker reported its strongest quarterly revenue growth in more than 15 years and issued a stronger-than-expected sales forecast, as booming artificial intelligence demand accelerated an ongoing turnaround effort. Adjusted earnings for the second quarter came in at $0.42 per share, beating analysts' expectations of $0.21 per share. Revenue rose 25% versus a year ago to $16.13 billion, well ahead of the $14.33 billion consensus estimate. For the current quarter, Intel forecast revenue of $15.8 billion to $16.8 billion, above analysts' consensus estimate of $15.1 billion. It expects adjusted earnings per share of $0.38. The results suggested that Intel's overhaul push under CEO Lip-Bu Tan may be gaining momentum, as surging AI demand boosts its processor and foundry businesses. Intel stands to be a key beneficiary of the AI boom, given that it produces the central processing units -- or CPUs -- necessary for cutting-edge AI agents which can finish tasks for users. The company is also one of just a handful of American operators of chip fabrication plants, a fact that underpinned a move by the U.S. government to accrue a stake in the business. The Trump administration has been especially keen to reduce U.S. reliance on semiconductor manufacturers in Asia. "What's going on is much bigger than Intel. Results are a sign that we are still much [earlier] in AI than many think. I think of Intel CPUs as an accessory to the AI buildout," said Gene Munster, Managing Partner at Deepwater Management. During the quarter, Intel advanced its AI infrastructure strategy with new rack-scale AI systems, launched its Xeon 6+ server processor built on the Intel 18A process, expanded its physical AI software offerings, and announced collaborations with partners including Foxconn, Siemens and Fortinet. The company also said its chip foundry division had entered high-volume manufacturing for a subset of Panther Lake processors using ASML's High-NA EUV technology and unveiled plans to invest 5 billion euros to expand Xeon manufacturing capacity. Intel's data center and AI business led the quarter, with revenue jumping 59% to $6.3 billion, while client computing and physical AI unit revenue rose 13% to $8.9 billion. Intel's foundry revenue increased 31% to $5.8 billion. Meanwhile, Intel raised its anticipated full-year capital expenditures to more than $20 billion, compared to a prior forecast of $18 billion, and flagged that spending next year would outstrip 2026. Other megacap tech companies, including Google-owner Alphabet, have outlined plans this week to shell out billions of dollars on AI infrastructure, as executives race to harness and monetize nascent AI systems. However, speaking to The Wall Street Journal, CFO David Zinsner warned that the AI boom will eventually weigh on Intel's business making chips for personal computers. Quarterly sales grew by 13% at the unit.

Why is Intel stock surging after-hours? By Investing.com

Investing.com -- Intel Corporation stock surged nearly 9.9% in after-hours trading after the chipmaker delivered its strongest quarterly revenue growth in over 15 years, with second-quarter results that blew past analyst estimates across revenue, earnings, and margins. Revenue came in at $16.13 billion, up 25.4% year-over-year, against a consensus expectation of roughly $14.42 billion, while adjusted earnings per share of $0.42 were double the $0.21 analysts had anticipated. Adjusted gross margin of 41.8% also cleared the roughly 38.8% estimate. The standout within the results was Intel's Data Center and AI segment, which saw revenue jump 59% to $6.3 billion, reflecting surging demand for server CPUs tied to the rapid build-out of AI infrastructure. Intel also disclosed it had signed 10 long-term supply agreements with data center customers, and management noted the company is currently supply-constrained -- a signal of robust forward demand. Adding to the bullish tone, Intel raised its full-year 2026 capital expenditure forecast to $20 billion and issued third-quarter revenue guidance of $15.8 billion to $16.8 billion, comfortably above the $15.10 billion consensus, alongside an adjusted EPS outlook of $0.38 versus the $0.27 expected. CEO Lip-Bu Tan described the results as representing Intel's strongest revenue growth in more than fifteen years, enabled by greater speed and customer focus. The earnings catalyst arrived against a challenging backdrop: Intel shares had fallen roughly 28% through July heading into the report, as investors rotated out of semiconductor winners and the broader chip sector came under pressure. The main U.S. indices offered little macro tailwind on the day, with the S&P 500 essentially flat and the Nasdaq up only modestly, underscoring that today's after-hours move was almost entirely company-driven. Several analysts had raised price targets in the days prior -- including KeyBanc to $155 and Susquehanna to $115 -- reflecting growing optimism around AI-driven CPU demand heading into the print. Taken together, the combination of a massive earnings beat, a well-above-consensus forward outlook, accelerating data center growth, and increased capital investment commitments gave investors the confirmation they needed that Intel's AI-era turnaround is gaining real momentum, propelling the stock sharply higher in extended trading despite a difficult month for the broader chip sector. This article was generated with the support of AI and reviewed by an editor. For more information see our T&C.