Intel earnings q2 2026 beat estimates as revenue rises 25%
Intel reported 25% revenue growth to $16.1B and gave above-consensus guidance, helped by server CPU demand tied to AI workloads.
By Wei-Lin Zhao · AI Correspondent
· 3 min read
Intel earnings q2 2026 came in well above Wall Street expectations, with the chipmaker reporting 42 cents in adjusted earnings per share on $16.1 billion in revenue. Revenue rose 25%, which Intel said was its fastest quarterly growth rate since 2011, and the company’s outlook also cleared analyst forecasts.
Analysts had expected adjusted earnings of 21 cents per share and revenue of $14.42 billion. Intel’s stronger-than-expected report sent its shares up a little more than 3% in after-hours trading, according to SiliconANGLE. The move followed a rough month for the stock, which had fallen 28% in July before the results, though Intel shares remain up more than 170% year to date.
The company’s stock had already rallied 84% last year after the U.S. government disclosed a plan to take a 10% stake in Intel as part of support for domestic chip manufacturing. The latest quarter gives investors a cleaner operating metric to evaluate: demand for Intel’s server processors is exceeding what the company says it can currently supply.
Why did Intel earnings beat expectations?
Intel attributed much of the upside to demand for central processing units used in AI infrastructure. Chief Executive Lip-Bu Tan told investors that AI is creating strong demand for compute and said Intel is positioned to benefit through its CPU business.
The company’s pitch is that CPUs have a larger role in AI infrastructure than the market initially credited, particularly for running AI agents and related workloads alongside graphics processors. That is still a company claim, but the segment numbers show where the growth is concentrated: Intel’s data center and AI revenue rose 59% to $6.3 billion in the quarter.
The client computing group, which sells PC chips, remained Intel’s largest unit by revenue at $8.9 billion. Its growth was slower, at 13%, and Intel said memory shortages around the world are likely to weigh on PC sales. The company expects client computing revenue to be flat in the current quarter.
For the current quarter, Intel guided for adjusted earnings of about 38 cents per share and revenue between $15.8 billion and $16.8 billion. Wall Street had been looking for 27 cents per share in earnings and $15.1 billion in revenue.
What is Intel doing to meet chip demand?
Chief Financial Officer David Zinsner told analysts that Intel’s ability to ship server chips is constrained because demand is running ahead of manufacturing capacity. He said customers continue to indicate a durable spending environment, and Intel has been signing longer-term server CPU agreements, including deals tied to pricing and others tied to volume.
Intel also said it plans a meaningful increase in capital expenditures, mostly for factory tooling, as it tries to expand manufacturing for its own processors and for outside customers. Zinsner said Intel’s 14A manufacturing process is ahead of where earlier processes were at the same stage, according to the company.
Intel Foundry revenue rose 31% to $5.8 billion in the quarter. The business remains a strategic priority, but Intel has not identified a major customer using its most advanced process. The foundry operation still largely serves Intel itself, while disclosed outside customers include smaller deals such as Fortinet using an older process for security-focused chips.
This story draws on original reporting from SiliconANGLE.
