Intel shares plunge over 20% as it warns the PC slowdown will last into 2027

Intel shares fell more than 20% in after-hours trading in New York on Thursday after the chipmaker forecast a weak final quarter and said the slump in PC sales would last at least until the middle of 2027, CNBC reported. The drop came after the US market closed, which was early Friday morning in Pakistan.

A good quarter, a bad forecast

For July to September, Intel beat expectations. Adjusted earnings were 52 cents a share against 40 cents forecast by analysts polled by LSEG, and revenue was $16.51 billion (about Rs 4.57 trillion at the interbank dollar rate), up 21% from $13.7 billion a year earlier.

The split inside that figure tells the story:

• Data centre and AI revenue jumped 78% to $7.3 billion.
• Client computing, mainly chips for laptops and desktops, fell 5% to $8.1 billion and missed estimates.

For October to December, Intel expects revenue of $15 billion to $16 billion and adjusted earnings of 25 cents a share. Analysts had expected $17.1 billion and 43 cents.

"We see the PC slowdown continuing at least through the first half of next year," finance chief David Zinsner said. Global PC shipments fell 4% in the second quarter, according to Counterpoint Research, as memory and other component costs soared.

The Israel explosion

The forecast also carries the cost of an explosion at Intel's factory in Israel earlier this month, which killed two workers and seriously injured a third. Zinsner said it would cost about $600 million in lost revenue over two quarters. Chief executive Lip-Bu Tan called it an "unfortunate and tragic accident" that caused an extended shutdown and hit shipments of 10-nanometre chips.

Why it matters here

Intel processors are inside a large share of the Windows laptops on sale in Pakistan, so a squeeze on PC makers, driven by soaring memory and component costs, feeds through to the prices buyers here pay. Tan said demand for CPUs remains strong over the long term, and that agentic AI tools lean on CPUs as well as graphics chips. Before the report, Intel's stock had risen about 150% this year, though it had already fallen about 23% in October amid doubts over the size of the AI spending boom.

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