San Francisco – Intel delivered a blockbuster sales forecast that shattered Wall Street expectations, signalling that the long-struggling chipmaker is benefiting from the giant build-out of artificial intelligence computing.
Revenue will be US$13.8 billion (S$17.6 billion) to US$14.8 billion in the June quarter, the company said on April 23. Analysts estimated US$13 billion on average, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
Intel shares soared 20 per cent in extended trading on April 23 after the results were released, putting the stock in record territory. It had gained 81 per cent in 2026 heading into the report.
The upbeat outlook suggests that chief executive officer Tan Lip-Bu is making progress on a challenging comeback plan. After lining up major investments in Intel in 2025 – helping to strengthen the company’s balance sheet – he’s now delivering on a promise to improve operations.
“Everyone is starting to direct orders to Intel, and I think we are in the early days,” Great Hill Capital Chairman Thomas Hayes, an Intel investor, said on Bloomberg Television. “This has gone from despondency to euphoria in a very short period of time.”
The earnings report shows that the need for data centre chips to power the massive AI expansion is lifting demand for Intel’s flagship Xeon server processors. That type of generalist semiconductor – the central processing unit, or CPU – is a renewed focus for companies trying to turn their AI software into services that bring in revenue.
In an interview, Mr Tan said Intel delivered a “solid result” that was ahead of its projections. He expects the strong demand for processors used in AI systems to expand and said the company is “laser-focused” on increasing output from Intel’s factories, which still can’t produce enough to fill all its orders.
“There is huge demand,” Tan said. “We are working very hard with our team to make sure we deliver, that we meet that demand but we are still short because the demand keeps increasing from the customers.”
For now, Intel has also been able to navigate another challenge the PC industry is facing: memory-chip shortages.
Red-hot demand for server products has lured memory suppliers into concentrating on the high-speed processors for those machines. That’s cut into production of standard products used in phones and personal computers, meaning fewer of those mass-market devices are being built and the prices are going up.
In addition to making progress on production, Mr Tan has restored Intel’s balance sheet via outside investments – to the point where the company bought back part of a factory in Ireland that it had been forced to sell to raise cash.
That purchase was taken as a sign of future confidence by investors. Adding to the optimism, Tesla CEO Elon Musk said on April 22 that he will use Intel technology as part of his effort to build an in-house chip manufacturing plant. Mr Tan declined to provide further details on the relationship.
Second-quarter earnings will be about 20 US cents a share, excluding some items, Intel said. That compares with a Wall Street prediction of 9 US cents.
In the first quarter, which ended March 28, revenue rose 7 per cent to US$13.6 billion. Profit was 29 US cents a share, excluding some items. Analysts, on average, had estimated sales of US$12.4 billion and earnings of 1 US cent, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
Intel still has a long way to go to restore its former chip-industry glory. Its annual revenue of US$53 billion in 2025 was roughly US$25 billion shy of the company’s peak revenue, achieved in 2021. Wall Street projects 3 per cent growth in 2026.
Intel has so far failed to field the type of AI accelerator that’s made Nvidia the richest in the chip industry and the most valuable publicly traded company in the world. Nvidia and others now are putting more energy into producing microprocessors that are needed to help orchestrate work done in AI data centres. That type of computing was long the domain of Intel’s Xeon lineup, which once had a market share of more than 99 per cent.
Mr Tan said Intel is now a “fundamentally different company” than in 2025 when he became CEO.
“A year ago, the conversation about Intel was about whether we could survive,” he said. “Today, it’s about how quickly we can add manufacturing capacity and scale our supply to meet the enormous demand for our products.” BLOOMBERG
