Intel Data Center Revenue Jumps 78%, but Weak Q4 Guidance Drags Stock Down

What happened

Intel shares fell roughly 29% on Friday to $65.76 after the company's fourth-quarter outlook came in well below Wall Street expectations; according to CNBC, it was the stock's worst day since the 1970s. Intel had closed at $92.07 on Thursday, right before posting its third-quarter 2026 results. The quarter itself was a good one: revenue came in at $16.5 billion, up 21% year over year, and adjusted EPS of $0.52 easily beat the roughly $0.40 analysts were expecting. Data Center and AI revenue jumped 78% to $7.3 billion, while the Client Computing Group slipped 5% to $8.1 billion. Investors were looking at Q4: Intel expects revenue between $15 billion and $16 billion, against a consensus of around $17 billion, with adjusted EPS of just $0.25, and non-GAAP gross margin expected to fall to about 38% from 44% in Q3. Part of the shortfall comes from a plant shutdown in Israel. CFO David Zinsner said Intel sees "the PC slowdown continuing at least through the first half of next year." On the earnings call, the company said it expects the PC market to shrink by about 12% in units this year, and it reportedly sees another 10% decline in 2027.

Impact and signal

Affected components and suppliers

Source and time

Source: TechPowerUp · 10/30/2026 · View original source