AI boom propels Intel to its strongest quarterly results since 2011
Powered by strong growth in infrastructure for AI, Intel recorded its fastest quarterly revenue growth since 2011. The company’s financial results for the second quarter beat analysts’ forecasts: adjusted earnings per share came in at 42c, compared with the expected 21c. Revenue reached $16.1 billion (€14.1 billion), exceeding LSEG’s estimate of $14.42 billion (€12.7 billion). Following this news, the company’s share price rose by around 4% in after-hours trading.
The chipmaker’s financial trajectory has been volatile, but generally upward. After a huge surge of 84% last year – partly thanks to a 10% investment by the US government to strengthen domestic semiconductor production – the shares have risen by more than 170% over the course of 2026.
Although the share price fell by 28% in July, demand for AI-ready computing power is driving a recovery. CEO Lip-Bu Tan noted that this unprecedented need for processing power is enabling Intel to achieve sustained growth across its entire CPU product range.
Intel’s data centre segment emerged as the main growth engine, with revenue up 59% to $6.3 billion (€5.5 billion). Meanwhile, the client computing division, which focuses on PC chips, grew by 13% to $8.9 billion (€7.8 billion).
Despite these increases, Intel expects PC sales to stagnate in the third quarter due to a shortage of memory components. Looking ahead, the company has issued guidance that exceeds market expectations, with forecast revenue between $15.8 billion and $16.8 billion (€13.8 billion and €14.7 billion) and adjusted earnings of 38c per share.
To safeguard its market position and maintain its pricing power, Intel has concluded 10 long-term contracts with customers for server CPUs, some of which lock in specific volumes or prices.
CFO David Zinsner indicated that demand from data centre customers currently exceeds the company’s production capacity. In addition, gross margins rebounded to 42%, a significant increase compared with the 2.5% reported a year earlier, thanks to higher-margin products and improved economies of scale.
The company is also increasingly focusing on manufacturing chips for external designers. That strategy will require substantial investment in new factory equipment next year. Although revenue from chip production for external customers rose by 31% to $5.8 billion (around €5 billion), Intel is still lacking a major external customer for the time being. The company does say that its 14A production process is progressing more quickly than previous versions.
Although Fortinet was recently brought on board as a customer, it is using older technology for security chips rather than the latest, advanced processes.
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