Intel Shares Sink About 25% Premarket as a PC Slowdown and a Fab Explosion Weigh on Its Fourth-Quarter Outlook

Intel shares fell sharply in premarket trading on Friday, October 30, 2026, after the chipmaker issued a fourth-quarter forecast well below Wall Street expectations, citing a slowdown in the personal computer market and the effects of an explosion at one of its factories. The stock was at about $68.58 as of 7:05 a.m. ET, roughly 25% below Thursday's close of $92.07, according to Yahoo Finance data, after falling more than 20% in extended trading on Thursday, CNBC reported.

Third quarter beat estimates

Revenue rose 21% to $16.5 billion from $13.7 billion a year earlier, Intel said in its earnings release. Adjusted earnings were 52 cents a share, compared with 40 cents expected by analysts polled by LSEG, and revenue of $16.51 billion topped the $16.5 billion estimate, according to CNBC.

On a GAAP basis, earnings were $0.60 a share, down from $0.90, and net income attributable to Intel was $3.3 billion, down 18% from $4.1 billion. Non-GAAP net income rose to $2.8 billion from $1.0 billion. GAAP gross margin widened to 43.0% from 38.2%, and non-GAAP gross margin reached 44.1%, up from 40.0%. The company generated $5.1 billion in cash from operations.

Revenue by business unit:

• Client Computing and Physical AI Group: $8.1 billion, down 5%.
• Data Center and AI: $7.3 billion, up 78%, which Chief Financial Officer David Zinsner called the strongest data center revenue growth in 15 years.
• Intel Foundry: $6.7 billion, up 58%.
• All other: $0.7 billion, down 30%.

Weak guidance for the holiday quarter

Intel forecast fourth-quarter revenue of $15.0 billion to $16.0 billion, GAAP earnings of $0.10 a share and non-GAAP earnings of $0.25 a share, with a non-GAAP gross margin of 38.0%. Analysts had expected revenue of $17.1 billion and earnings of 43 cents a share, according to LSEG data cited by CNBC.

"Looking ahead, we see the PC slowdown continuing at least through the first half of next year," Zinsner said in the release. On the earnings call, he said Intel expects revenue in its client group "to decline greater than 20% sequentially as customers move quickly to reduce weeks of inventory," according to a transcript of the call.

Chief Executive Lip-Bu Tan said customers in recent weeks "began signaling a PC slowdown based on the memory prices and availability" linked to industry-wide shortages, CRN reported. "We expect the current environment to persist until memory availability and prices begin to normalize," he said.

Fab 28 explosion and supply limits

The forecast also reflects an explosion earlier this month at an Intel fabrication plant in Israel that killed two workers. Tan called it an "unfortunate and tragic accident" that caused an "extended shutdown" affecting shipments of 10-nanometer chips, according to CNBC. Intel's guidance includes an impact of roughly $300 million to revenue and 200 basis points to gross margin from the incident at Fab 28, based on an early assessment, according to the call transcript. Zinsner said on the call the incident will cost about $600 million in lost revenue over two quarters, CNBC reported.

Tan cited three headwinds limiting Intel's ability to meet AI-driven demand for server processors: manufacturing yield and cycle time on the Intel 3 process, "an industry-wide shortage of advanced organic substrates" used in its packaging, and the Fab 28 shutdown, CRN reported. He said he was "disappointed that we were not able to meet strong customer demand in this quarter."

Manufacturing roadmap and stock context

On the call, Tan said Clearwater Forest, the first Intel 18A server product, is shipping for revenue and that Intel 18A client CPUs have grown from less than 5% of revenue in the first quarter to nearly one-third of client CPU revenue. He said Intel 14A remains on track. "We're going to have a couple of customers ready to announce the next two quarters," he said regarding foundry customers, according to CNBC.

Intel completed a $23 billion public equity offering during the quarter, the company said. Before the report, the stock had risen about 150% this year, although it had fallen roughly 23% in October, according to CNBC. "We will continue making disciplined investments in capacity and working capital to increase supply and support future growth," Zinsner said in the release.