AI just ate Intel: shares crash 23% in a single evening

Intel will remember the evening of October 29 for a while. Its third-quarter numbers looked fine at first glance: $16.51 billion in revenue, up 21% year over year, and profit above analyst estimates. Minutes later the stock was down 23% in after-hours trading. If that holds through Friday's regular session, Intel loses more than $100 billion in market value.

The irony is that the AI boom feeding Intel is also the thing sinking it. Data center and AI revenue jumped 78% to $7.3 billion, the fastest growth there in about fifteen years. PCs are another story. AI data centers are hoovering up memory, memory prices are exploding, computers get pricier and people stop buying them. Client computing revenue fell 5% to $8.1 billion and missed forecasts.

The outlook did the real damage. Intel expects $15 to $16 billion in fourth-quarter revenue, while Wall Street wanted about $17.1 billion. CFO David Zinsner said the PC slowdown will last at least through the first half of 2027. CEO Lip-Bu Tan admitted the company couldn't meet customer demand, citing manufacturing shortages and an unprecedented memory crunch. On top of that, the deadly October explosion at the Kiryat Gat fab in Israel will cost roughly $600 million in revenue over two quarters, Intel says.

Nvidia, AMD, Broadcom, Micron, Qualcomm and Arm slid 1% to 6% after hours too. Before the report, Intel stock had more than doubled this year.

Bottom line: AI wants all the memory on the planet, and the bill goes to anyone who just wanted a new laptop.