Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan holds a wafer of CPU tiles for the Intel Core Ultra series 3, code-named Panther Lake, outside the Intel Ocotillo campus in Chandler, Arizona. Panther Lake is the first client system-on-chips (SoCs) built on the Intel 18A process node.
Courtesy: Intel
Intel reported third-quarter results on Thursday in which sales beat analyst estimates, signaling that demand for its core x86 processors for PCs has recovered.
Shares of the chipmaker were up 6% in extended trading on Thursday, and they’re up over 87% so far this year.
Here’s how Intel did versus LSEG consensus estimates:
- Revenue: $13.65 versus $13.14 billion estimated
- EPS: $0.23, adjusted, not comparable to analyst estimates
Intel said it expects revenue in the fourth quarter of $13.3 billion at the midpoint, with diluted adjusted earnings per share of 8 cents. That is not comparable with LSEG expectations $13.37 billion and 8 cents of earnings per share.
The company’s adjusted earnings per share were not comparable with analysts estimates due to Intel adding a 37 cent loss per share in the third quarter to account for the government’s $8.9 billion investment.
Intel said its outlook excludes the impact from a recent sale of its Altera subsidiary.
For the third quarter, Intel reported net income of $4.1 billion, or 90 cents per share, versus a net loss in the year-ago quarter of $16.6 billion.
This is Intel’s first earnings report since the U.S. government’s investment in the company. That investment in August gave the government a 10% stake in the chipmaker. Intel said it recieved $5.7 billion from the U.S. government during the quarter.
“There is limited precedent for the accounting treatment of such transactions,” Intel warned investors in its press release.
Intel said that it tried to meet wit the Securities and Exchange Commission to gain approval for its approach to accounting for the U.S. government’s stake, but it doesn’t yet have an answer because of the U.S. government shutdown. The company warned that it may revise its results in the future.
The company also took a $5 billion in investment from its one-time rival Nvidia in September. As part of that deal, the two companies will integrate Intel’s central processors (CPUs) alongside Nvidia’s artificial intelligence graphics processors, which currently make up 90% of the AI chip market.
Intel said that demand for its chips outpaced supply, a trend that it expects to continue through next year.
The company said that its products group reported $12.7 billion in sales, up 3% on an annual basis. Of that, $8.5 billion was from its Client Computing Group, which includes chips for PCs and laptops. Another $4.1 billion in sales were for data center CPUs, which were down 1% on a year-over-year basis. Intel said it hopes that its deal with Nvidia can help revive growth in its data center CPU business.
Investors are laser-focused on the future of Intel Foundry, which manufactures chips for other companies, not just Intel’s. The division requires $100 billion in capital investment, and it’s yet to secure a major customer. Intel said it started production of its most advanced chips in Arizona during the quarter.
Intel’s foundry reported $4.2 billion in sales during the quarter, down 2% on an annual basis. The entirety of the sales were attributed to Intel itself using the foundry to build its chips, the company said.
The company said it had 88.4 million employees, down from 124 million at the same time last year.
WATCH: Cramer’s Mad Dash: Intel
https://www.cnbc.com/2025/10/23/intel-intc-earnings-report-q3-2025-.html
