Intel Tumbles 30% as PC Weakness Overshadows 78% AI Jump

Intel’s stock tumbled nearly 30% to $65.15 in Friday morning trading, wiping more than $100 billion from the chipmaker’s market value after it guided fourth-quarter revenue roughly $1.57 billion below Wall Street’s expectations.

Hours before the drop, Intel posted 78% growth in its data center and AI business, the fastest pace in 15 years. Investors were unmoved. Their focus was on the PC division and on what the AI boom is doing to it.

Why a 78% AI Surge Failed to Rescue Intel’s Outlook

The third quarter itself topped forecasts, with revenue up 21% to $16.5 billion, per Intel’s results. The punishment is aimed at the forecast rather than the report.

Intel’s fourth-quarter guidance came in at $15 billion to $16 billion. The analyst consensus was about $17 billion.

The weakness sits in the PC chip business, which produced $8.1 billion last quarter. Intel projects that unit’s revenue will fall by more than 20% in the fourth quarter.

“…strong server demand runs into manufacturing and packaging constraints. Intel cannot simply turn every extra order into an extra shipment…PC makers face expensive, scarce memory chips and weaker sales. They are reducing inventory. Intel expects its PC-focused division’s revenue to fall more than 20% from the third quarter to the fourth,” noted analyst Shanaka Anslem.

Here’s the wrinkle. AI data centers are consuming the world’s memory chips, making laptops more expensive and driving buyers away. The same surge that packed Intel’s server order book is starving its largest division.

“We see the PC slowdown continuing at least through the first half of next year,” David Zinsner noted.

A fatal explosion at Intel’s Kiryat Gat factory in Israel on October 14 will add about $300 million to the fourth-quarter impact, the company estimates.

Stripping out that impact still leaves a $1.27 billion gap to Wall Street’s number.

Is Friday the Worst Trading Day in Intel’s History?

Only twice before has the stock fallen this hard: by 29.9% in July 1974 and by 26.1% in August 2024. A close below roughly $64.50 would make Friday the worst session in Intel’s history.

$INTC – INTEL SHARES PLUNGE 29%, SET FOR SHARPEST ONE-DAY PERCENTAGE DROP ON RECORD

— Walter Bloomberg (@DeItaone) October 30, 2026

Bond investors are also on edge. Five-year protection against an Intel default surged to a record 123.5 basis points on Friday, the biggest one-day jump since October 2022, according to Markit data.

A case can be made, though, that the panic has gone too far.

Intel began 2026 at $39.38, according to Yahoo Finance data, so even at $67 the stock is still up about 65% this year.

On Thursday’s call, CEO Lip-Bu Tan told investors that “rebuilding Intel is going to be a multiyear journey.”

Memory prices will determine the next move. Intel says the PC downturn won’t ease until memory supply normalizes, and the question of whether AI spending is real demand or a bubble has now reached the hardware makers.