Intel shares plunged this Friday by as much as 30.3% after the opening of trading on the Nasdaq, after the American microprocessor giant reported losses of 11.441 billion dollars (10.257 billion euros) in the first nine months of 2026, compared with the attributed net profit of 324 million dollars (290 million euros) recorded in the same period of the previous year.
Intel's result included an extraordinary negative impact of 4.294 billion dollars (3.850 billion euros) due to restructuring costs and other items, well above the 2.221 billion dollars (1.991 billion euros) posted in the first nine months of 2025.
Between July and September, the multinational also experienced a contraction of 18.3% in attributed net profit, which stood at 3.320 billion dollars (2.976 billion euros).
In contrast, Intel's revenue up to September reached 46.218 billion dollars (41.435 billion euros), which represents an increase of 18% compared with the previous year, driven by a 21% rise in the third quarter, when revenue totaled 16.513 billion dollars (14.804 billion euros).
Between July and September, Intel's data center and AI business (DCAI) boosted its sales by 77.7%, while the PC processor division suffered a decline of 5% in its turnover. In turn, semiconductor manufacturing activity increased by 58% year-on-year.
For the fourth quarter of the fiscal year, Intel expects its revenue to be in a range of between 15.000 and 16.000 billion dollars (13.448 and 14.244 billion euros), with an estimated gross margin of 37.1% and adjusted earnings per share of 0.10 dollars.
"Our third-quarter results demonstrate better execution, significant progress in expanding supply, and the continued advancement of our process technology," said Lip-Bu Tan, CEO of Intel.
"Despite the short-term difficulties in the PC industry, demand for our CPUs remains strong, which reinforces our confidence in the long-term growth opportunities of our business," the executive added, stressing that the immediate priority is to unlock additional supply to meet extraordinary demand.
On their part, Intel’s chief financial officer, David Zinsner, anticipated that "the slowdown in the PC market will continue at least during the first half of next year," specifying that the company will continue making disciplined investments in capacity and working capital to increase supply and support future growth.
Historic stock market punishment and doubts about the sector
The strong stock-market correction suffered this Friday by Intel shares, which after the opening reached their largest intraday drop in history by falling as much as 30.3%, adds to the doubts weighing on the technology sector, the sustainability of infrastructure spending, and the persistent 'bottlenecks' in meeting demand.
During the analysts' conference after the results presentation, Intel’s CEO explained that the notable momentum of the DCAI business was partially offset by the weakness of the processors division for computers (CCPG), affected by the generalized rise in memory prices and very tight IT budgets.
"The industry continues to face one of the greatest supply shortages in history, driven by unprecedented demand for superintelligence," he warned when describing the short-term challenges, among them the shortage of manufacturing capacity, an unprecedented memory crisis and the consequent weakness in PC demand.
"We expect the current situation to persist until memory availability and prices begin to normalize. Although the next few quarters will be difficult for the PC market, our roadmap continues to strengthen and our long-term prospects remain positive," added Lip-Bu Tan.
In this context, Intel’s chief financial officer noted that, looking ahead to 2027, the company estimates that the total addressable market (TAM) for PC units will shrink by around 10%, pointing out that the year-on-year decline will be more pronounced in the first half of the year, with room for improvement in the final months.
All the same, he highlighted that revenue from AI PCs advanced 35% year-on-year, despite total billing in the CCPG business falling 5% in the third quarter, underscoring the good performance of products such as the low-cost Wildcat Lake CPU, which increased its units by around 70% from the previous quarter and is already sold out.
At the same time, David Zinsner assumed that the next fiscal year "will be a year of investment", so Intel is likely not to generate positive free cash flow, although he defended that it is a relevant opportunity to drive growth. He also recalled that this was one of the reasons why the company went to the market in August to raise capital and strengthen its position, given that, in the long term, these are businesses with high cash generation.
In this vein, Lip-Bu Tan considers that the successful share placement carried out in August has provided Intel with the financial resources necessary to capitalize on future growth.
"We are deploying this capital quickly and prudently. We expect capital investments and commitments to purchase key components to increase significantly in the coming quarters," he added.