Intel shares surged 20% in after-hours trading on Thursday after the company reported quarterly results that beat analyst expectations, with revenue of $13.58 billion and adjusted earnings per share of $0.29.
The Data Centre and AI (DCAI) division generated $5.05 billion in revenue, a 22.4% increase year-on-year, surpassing the $4.41 billion analysts had projected. 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. CEO Lip-Bu Tan said that the next wave of AI will bring intelligence closer to the end user, moving from foundational models to inference to agentic, and that this shift is significantly increasing the need for Intel's CPUs and wafer and advanced packaging offerings.
The next wave of AI will bring intelligence closer to the end user, moving from foundational models to inference to agentic.
Intel issued a robust forecast for the second quarter, projecting revenue between $13.8 billion and $14.8 billion, above the $13 billion expected by investors. The strong results mark a turnaround from a severe existential crisis in 2025, when Intel reported multi-billion dollar losses and struggled with inefficient manufacturing nodes. The Trump administration took a direct 9.9% equity stake in August 2025, investing $8.9 billion at $20.47 per share, with $5.7 billion funded by grants already awarded. Intel subsequently scrapped high-profile factory projects in Germany and Poland to consolidate operations and focus on US domestic production, and cut its global workforce by 25%, or roughly 25,000 employees. After the 20% rise, Intel shares trade at $81.3, representing a nearly 300% increase since the government stake.
This shift is significantly increasing the need for Intel’s CPUs and wafer and advanced packaging offerings.