Intel Loses a Quarter of Its Value After Forecasting a PC Market Slump

Intel shares plunged approximately 23.7% on Thursday, wiping out nearly a quarter of the company's market value in a single session, despite reporting a solid third-quarter beat. Revenue rose 21% year-on-year to $16.5 billion, with datacenter and AI product sales surging 78% and gross margins reaching 43% — both above guidance. The stock collapsed anyway because CEO Lip Bu Tan warned that customers had begun signalling a PC slowdown tied to soaring memory prices and tight supply. Client computing revenue fell 5% year-on-year and 9% sequentially to $8.1 billion. Tan projected the PC chip market will shrink 12% next year and said conditions will remain difficult until memory availability and prices normalise — which could take years, given SK Hynix's prediction that memory shortages will persist until 2030. On the positive side, Tan argued that demand for energy-efficient CPUs from agentic AI workloads could expand the server CPU market fivefold, from roughly $40 billion to more than $200 billion within five years. However, CFO Dave Zinsner cautioned on the earnings call that Intel will likely not fully meet customer demand for server CPUs, particularly in the first half of next year, due to manufacturing supply shortages. Shares opened at $92.96, fell to $73 on the earnings announcement, and reached $70.87 in after-hours trading.