Intel stock plunges 21% as chipmaker blames PC slowdown for weak guidance

Intel shares plummeted in extended trading on Thursday after the chipmaker issued a weak fourth-quarter forecast, citing continued softness in the global PC market.

Here's how the company did in the third quarter, compared with estimates from analysts polled by LSEG:

Revenue climbed 21% from $13.7 billion a year earlier, the company said in a press release.

However, revenue in Intel's client computing and physical AI group fell 5% from the same quarter a year ago to $8.1 billion, missing estimates, even as data center and AI revenue jumped 78% to $7.3 billion.

Global PC shipments declined 4% in the second quarter from a year earlier due to soaring costs for memory and other components, according to Counterpoint Research .

For the current quarter, Intel said it expects adjusted earnings per share of 25 cents on revenue between $15 billion and $16 billion. Analysts were expecting revenue of $17.1 billion and EPS of 43 cents, according to LSEG.

"We see the PC slowdown continuing at least through the first half of next year, but we remain optimistic about the opportunities across our broader portfolio," said Intel finance chief David Zinsner, in the release. "We will continue making disciplined investments in capacity and working capital to increase supply and support future growth."

Intel's stock has been on an upward tear, up about 150% so far this year, although it's down roughly 23% in October as concerns have emerged about the size of the artificial intelligence buildout.

Known best for its industry leading central processing units, or CPUs, Intel has been a beneficiary of the rise in agentic AI. While chatbots and large models rely heavily on graphics processors from Nvidia and Advanced Micro Devices , agentic applications such as Meta 's Muse and OpenAI's Dots lean on CPUs to help orchestrate tasks and data from a computer operating in the cloud.

"Despite near term headwinds affecting the broader PC industry, we continue to see robust demand for CPUs and more broadly, for all our computing platforms in the long term," CEO Lip-Bu Tan said in the press release.

Nvidia, which has become the world's most valuable company thanks to its dominance in GPUs, is scheduled to report results on mid-November. AMD reports next week.

Intel's foundry business, meanwhile, has struggled to find its footing.

Intel is the only U.S.-based manufacturer of advanced logic chips, and is now in high-volume production of its most advanced 18A chip out of its new fab in Arizona, providing an alternative to Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co.