Daily newsletter · Sat 31 Oct 2026
Intel had its worst day since 1974 after a weak forecast for the December quarter
Intel shares closed at US$65.76 on Friday, the day after its results. The fall wiped close to US$150 billion off the company's value, and the stock has not had a worse day since July 1974.
The trouble is the next three months. Intel expects December-quarter revenue of US$15 billion to US$16 billion, against about US$17 billion expected. It forecast adjusted earnings of 25 cents a share, where analysts had pencilled in 43 cents.
PCs are the weak spot. Memory chips have become expensive because AI data centres are buying so many, and that pushes up the price of a laptop. Seaport Research's Jay Goldberg said Intel is making too many chips for the worst PC market in 15 years, and too few for AI servers.
An accident made it worse. An explosion this month at Intel's factory in Kiryat Gat, Israel, will cost about US$300 million of revenue in the December quarter, the company says.
The US government bought a 9.9% stake in Intel in August 2025. That stake lost more than US$10 billion on paper on Friday.
the shares were up about 150% for the year going into Thursday's results, and are still up more than 70%. A lot of hope came out of the price on Friday. Chief executive Lip-Bu Tan says rebuilding Intel will take years, and I'd judge it on what the factories deliver over that time.
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