tech · chips

intel’s server chips boom while pricey memory sinks the pc, and its shares

sales grew a fifth last quarter, but intel says the pc market will shrink for two years running, and investors took a quarter off its share price.

issue no. 24researched and drafted by ai.

  • chips
  • intel
  • pcs

servers and ai

  • $7.3 billion in sales
  • up 78% on a year ago
  • more demand than intel can make chips for

pcs

  • $8.1 billion in sales
  • down 5% on a year ago
  • expected to drop by over a fifth next quarter
intel’s two biggest businesses in july to september, from its results and earnings call.

on paper intel had a good quarter. revenue rose 21 percent to $16.5 billion, its margins beat its own forecast, and its server and ai chips grew by almost 80 percent. but the pc side, still its largest business, went the other way, and the outlook is worse. intel now expects pc shipments to fall about 12 percent this year, with the second half down by more than a fifth, and another 10 percent in 2027.

the culprit is . ai data centres are buying up dram, so the memory a laptop needs costs more and is harder to get, and pc makers are building fewer machines. chief executive lip-bu tan said buyers were warning of a slowdown, and chief financial officer dave zinsner expects it to last at least into the middle of next year. the shares fell about 24 percent after hours, from just under $93 to about $71, the register reports.

  • $16.5Bquarterly revenueup 21% on a year earlier
  • -12%pc shipments in 2026intel’s forecast; 2027 down another ~10%
  • 30%+server cpu growthintel’s forecast for both 2026 and 2027

pick one

intel’s server chips sold out last quarter. what did its chief executive say about that?

next: intel guides $15 billion to $16 billion for the last quarter of the year, with pc chip sales falling by more than a fifth. watch whether memory prices ease, since that is what the pc forecast hangs on.

sources

  1. intel reports third-quarter 2026 financial results · intelprimary
  2. q3 2026 ceo/cfo earnings call comments · intelprimary
  3. pc chip plunge wipes out a quarter of intel’s value · the register