Intel (INTC) Stock Surges 24% as Earnings Shatter Wall Street Expectations

TLDR

• Intel Q1 EPS came in at 29 cents adjusted, crushing the 2-cent Wall Street estimate
• Revenue hit $13.6B, up 7% year-over-year, beating the $12.4B forecast
• Data center revenue jumped 22% to $5.1B, driven by rising CPU demand for AI workloads
• Q2 guidance calls for revenue of $13.8B–$14.8B, well above analyst expectations
• The stock has now gained over 80% in 2026, and would surpass its all-time closing high set in August 2000

Intel posted first-quarter results Thursday that caught Wall Street off guard. Adjusted EPS of 29 cents blew past the 2-cent consensus estimate, and revenue of $13.6 billion topped forecasts of $12.4 billion by a wide margin.

The stock jumped roughly 24% in premarket trading Friday. At $82.77, it would clear its record closing high of $74.88 set back in August 2000 — a milestone that would have seemed impossible just 12 months ago.

Intel Corporation, INTC

Revenue rose 7.2% from a year earlier. That follows year-over-year declines in five of the past seven quarters, so any growth at all is a change in direction.

The data center division was the standout. Revenue there climbed 22% to $5.1 billion, powered by growing demand for CPUs in AI workloads. The once-predictable CPU market has re-emerged as a key part of the AI stack, particularly as agentic computing demands more general-purpose processing power.

PC sales held up better than expected despite a memory shortage driving up prices. Intel’s Core Ultra Series 3 processor went on sale in January, and its Xeon 6+ data center chips launched in March.

Q2 Guidance Comes In Strong

Intel guided second-quarter revenue of $13.8B to $14.8B with adjusted EPS of 20 cents. Analysts had penciled in $13.07B in revenue and 9 cents EPS. That gap is hard to ignore.

Gross margins are also expected to improve, another area where Intel has struggled in recent years.

Despite the beat, Intel is still losing money. Net loss widened to $4.28 billion in Q1, partly due to a $4.1 billion restructuring charge tied to a goodwill impairment at its Mobileye subsidiary. The foundry segment lost $2.4 billion.

Intel’s manufacturing business remains the long-term puzzle. Its 18A process node is technologically competitive, but Intel is still the only major customer using it. Yield issues on some 18A wafers have raised questions about readiness for external clients.

Musk Partnership Adds New Chapter

The narrative shifted this month when Intel announced it would participate in Elon Musk’s Terafab chip complex in Austin, Texas — building chips for SpaceX, xAI, and Tesla. During Tesla’s Q1 earnings call, Musk confirmed Tesla plans to use Intel’s next-generation 14A process at the facility.

14A isn’t expected to launch until 2028.

Intel also recently bought back a 49% stake in its Ireland chip fab from Apollo Global Management for $14 billion — a sign Tan is betting on the foundry business long-term.

CFO David Zinsner told CNBC that advanced packaging — one of Intel’s genuine strengths — could bring in billions per customer. Current packaging customers include Amazon, Cisco, SpaceX, and Tesla.

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