Intel shares rose 20% in after-hours trading on Thursday after the company published a quarterly report that surpassed analyst predictions for both revenue and earnings, according to reports. Revenue came in at $13.58 billion (€11.6bn) against a $12.3 billion (€10.5bn) estimate, a 7.2% rise year-on-year, according to the company. Adjusted earnings per share were $0.29 against a $0.01 estimate, as reported by Intel.
The strong performance was driven by Intel's Data Centre and AI (DCAI) division, which generated $5.05 billion (€4.2bn) in revenue for the quarter, a 22.4% increase year-on-year and above the $4.41 billion (€3.77bn) analysts had projected, according to Intel's earnings release. Intel's Xeon 6 processors and Gaudi 3 AI accelerators have gained significant traction among enterprise customers and cloud service providers, according to multiple reports.
Intel issued a robust forecast for the second quarter, projecting revenue between $13.8 billion (€11.8bn) and $14.8 billion (€12.6bn), according to the company. This marks a sharp turnaround from 2025, when the company faced a severe existential crisis, reporting multi-billion dollar losses and struggling with inefficient manufacturing nodes, as reported by financial media. The Trump administration took a direct 9.9% equity stake in Intel in August 2025 to prevent a collapse, investing $8.9 billion (€7.8bn) at a $20.47 (€18.01) share price, according to government filings. Of that investment, $5.7 billion (€5bn) was funded with grants already awarded to Intel but not yet paid, as disclosed by the Treasury Department.
Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan said in a statement that the next wave of AI will bring intelligence closer to the end user, moving from foundational models to inference to agentic. He added that this shift is significantly increasing the need for Intel's CPUs and wafer and advanced packaging offerings.
As part of its recovery, Intel scrapped high-profile factory projects in Germany and Poland to consolidate operations and focus on US domestic production, according to company announcements. The company also cut its global workforce by 25%, or roughly 25,000 employees, as reported by Intel. Intel shares are at $81.3 (€71.5) after the 20% rise, representing a nearly 300% increase since the Trump administration took a stake, according to market data. The exact terms of the US government's equity stake and any conditions attached remain unclear, as does the timeline for Intel's US domestic production expansion.