INTC 2026 Q2

Q2 revenue of $16.1 billion came in $1.8 billion above the midpoint of guidance, driven by demand outpacing growing supply across AI-driven businesses.

“Second quarter revenue was $16.1 billion, $1.8 billion above the midpoint of our guide.”— David Zinsner, Chief Financial Officer

Intel shares surged 255% to $109 after NVIDIA's $5 billion stake and Q2 revenue rose 25% to $16 billion, led by 59% data center growth. From $24 to $109: Intel’s Comeback Is Real. The Price Tag Is Now the Problem — finance.yahoo.com · 21 September 2026

Management framed current revenue growth as the strongest in over 15 years, marking a notable extreme versus historical performance.

“Today, we are seeing the strongest revenue growth in more than 15 years.”— Lip-Bu Tan, Chief Executive Officer

This was the seventh consecutive quarter of exceeding financial expectations, indicating a sustained pattern of beating guidance versus prior periods of underperformance.

“This marks the seventh consecutive quarter of exceeding our financial expectations.”— Lip-Bu Tan, Chief Executive Officer

CCPG raised ASPs to pass through perceived cost inflation, a new like-for-like pricing action beyond mix shift, contributing to upside client revenue.

“Some of that was our own like-for-like changes in ASPs where we thought we had seen some inflation on our cost and needed to pass that on.”— David Zinsner, Chief Financial Officer

Server CPU demand outlook improved again versus last quarter's already strong view, with management now forecasting strong double-digit unit growth for the industry this year, next year, and into 2028.

“Our outlook for server CPU demand has improved again since our last earnings report and we're forecasting strong double-digit unit growth for the industry this year and next.”— David Zinsner, Chief Financial Officer

In passing: Intel shares jumped 12% as Meta's new Muse AI agent reignited a broader bet on CPU demand across processor stocks. Arm Surges 13% as Meta’s Muse Agent Reignites CPU Demand Bet; Intel Jumps 12%, AMD Climbs 9% — finance.yahoo.com · 21 September 2026

DCAI revenue grew 24% sequentially and 59% year-over-year, meaningfully ahead of expectations, driven by strong hyperscale and enterprise demand.

“DCAI revenue was $6.3 billion, an increase of 24% sequentially and 59% year-over-year, meaningfully ahead of expectations.”— David Zinsner, Chief Financial Officer

Year-over-year server growth in Q2 was described as the strongest on record, an extreme management explicitly flagged as notable.

“Q2 year-over-year server growth was the strongest on record.”— Lip-Bu Tan, Chief Executive Officer

Additional strategic customer wins and long-term agreements in Q2 strengthened the server demand outlook versus prior visibility.

“We have also strengthened our outlook with the additional strategic customer wins and long-term agreements in Q2.”— Lip-Bu Tan, Chief Executive Officer

Management now expects PC consumption to be subseasonal in the second half of 2026 and down low double digits for the full year, a shift attributed to rising memory prices and constraints versus prior expectations.

“We expect PC consumption to be subseasonal in the second half of the year and down low double digits percent for all of 2026.”— David Zinsner, Chief Financial Officer

Client segment revenue is expected to be flattish in Q3 versus growth this quarter, with further softening anticipated in Q4 as memory dynamics weigh on the market, though CPU supply will be redirected to data center.

Per David Zinsner, Chief Financial Officer

Edge deployments now represent roughly 10% of CCPG revenue, and management renamed the PC business to reflect a physical AI/edge opportunity it says could eventually match the client TAM, a new strategic framing versus prior positioning.

“The edge and physical AI opportunity is likely to at least match the client TAM over time.”— David Zinsner, Chief Financial Officer

Intel committed in Q2 to fully ramp 14A to high volume in 2028, with defect density and transistor performance now outpacing the prior 18A development trajectory, reflecting growing confidence versus earlier caution.

“Defect density and transistor performance are outpacing 18A development.”— Lip-Bu Tan, Chief Executive Officer

The new design services business grew revenue nearly three times year-over-year, a sharp acceleration for this newly announced offering.

“We continue to make steady progress in our newly announced design services business with revenue growing nearly three times year-over-year.”— Lip-Bu Tan, Chief Executive Officer

The ASIC/purpose-built silicon business is approaching a $2 billion run rate and is expected to reach a $4 billion run rate in the not-too-distant future, indicating accelerating momentum versus prior scale.

“We think in the not-too-distant future, we'll be at a $4 billion run rate for that business.”— David Zinsner, Chief Financial Officer

EMIB-T advanced packaging backlog continues to grow with yield and reliability hitting targets, positioning the technology for customer ramps in 2027, a shift from earlier development-stage commentary.

Per Lip-Bu Tan, Chief Executive Officer

Q3 quarter-to-date 18A yields are trending ahead of the targets set back in March, an improvement versus the plan set entering the year.

“Q3 quarter-to-date 18A yields are trending ahead of targets set in March.”— David Zinsner, Chief Financial Officer

Q2 non-GAAP gross margin of 41.8% was approximately 280 basis points above guidance, driven by higher revenue, better yields, and higher ASPs from mix and pricing actions.

“Q2 non-GAAP gross margin was 41.8%, approximately 280 basis points better than guidance.”— David Zinsner, Chief Financial Officer

Intel Foundry has cut the cost of the primary Panther Lake SKU by roughly 50% year-to-date and expects an additional 20% reduction this year, an accelerating cost improvement versus prior periods.

“Intel Foundry has driven down the cost of our primary Panther Lake SKU by roughly 50% year-to-date and is on track for an additional 20% this year.”— David Zinsner, Chief Financial Officer

After making it the top internal goal, the company achieved gross margins comfortably in the 40s for the first two quarters of the year, with Q3 guidance suggesting the same, versus a less consistent margin base previously.

“Our number one goal this year...was to get gross margins comfortably into the 40s in every quarter...the team did a really good job getting there.”— David Zinsner, Chief Financial Officer

Intel Foundry's operating loss improved by $348 million quarter-over-quarter as higher yields, improved cycle times, and increased factory scale drove better wafer costs, a reversal in trajectory versus prior deeper losses.

Per David Zinsner, Chief Financial Officer

DCAI operating profit rose about $1 billion quarter-over-quarter on higher revenue, improved product margins, and lower operating expenses, accelerating profitability versus the prior quarter.

Per David Zinsner, Chief Financial Officer

CCPG operating profit declined approximately $173 million quarter-over-quarter due to inventory charges taken to optimize the factory network to overall client and server demand, a reversal from the prior quarter's trend.

Per David Zinsner, Chief Financial Officer

Management now believes the CPU-to-GPU unit ratio is almost at parity and could eventually skew further toward CPUs, a shift from prior expectations of GPU-dominated growth.

“We now believe we're almost in parity at this point and could eventually even skew more to CPUs on a unit basis.”— David Zinsner, Chief Financial Officer

The CEO's confidence in the foundry process roadmap has grown significantly since he joined over a year ago, reflecting a marked tone shift versus earlier uncertainty.

“My confidence in our foundry process roadmap has grown significantly since joining over a year ago.”— Lip-Bu Tan, Chief Executive Officer

Intel raised its 2026 CapEx outlook to more than $20 billion, up significantly versus expectations entering the year, driven by strong customer demand signals.

“We're raising our outlook for 2026 and now expect our CapEx to be more than $20 billion, which is up significantly versus our expectations entering the year.”— David Zinsner, Chief Financial Officer

Management now expects 2027 capital expenditures to be significantly above 2026 levels, with the vast majority directed to the U.S. network, a further step-up versus current spending plans.

“We're forecasting 2027 capital expenditures to be significantly above the 2026 levels with the vast majority spent across our U.S. network.”— David Zinsner, Chief Financial Officer

Management described industry-wide supply constraints across leading-edge logic, wafers, memory, and substrates as among the most severe in the industry's history, expected to persist for the foreseeable future.

“The industry is facing one of the most severe supply constraints in its history across leading-edge logic silicon wafers, memory and substrates.”— Lip-Bu Tan, Chief Executive Officer