Intel reported a massive net loss on Thursday, weighed down by impairment and restructuring charges.
The company has largely missed out on a boom in investments in speedy, advanced AI chips for data centers as businesses double down on adopting generative AI technology - a market dominated by Nvidia (NVDA.O), followed by rival AMD (AMD.O).
In an interview with Reuters, Intel finance chief David Zinsner said the company was "making progress" on its profitability but that it had "a lot of work to do" to achieve the targets it has set.
Intel reported a net loss of $16.6 billion for the third quarter, excluding losses attributable to certain noncontrolling interests. That compares with a net profit attributable to Intel of about $300 million in the year-ago period.
As one of the largest makers of PC chips, Intel has benefited as the rollout of on-device AI features and a fresh Windows update cycle have renewed demand for PCs after a years-long slump, helping the company surpass Wall Street's low expectations.
Revenue in Intel’s Client Computing Group - which includes its PC chips for desktop and laptop computers - fell 7% to $7.3 billion. Analysts estimated the client segment would shrink to $7.38 billion.
The company expects revenue to be between $13.3 billion and $14.3 billion for the current quarter, the midpoint of which is above analysts' average estimate of $13.66 billion according to data compiled by LSEG.
Analysts also expect demand for traditional server chips made by Intel - its mainstay data-center semiconductors - to pick up in the second half of the year after several quarters of soft demand as investment is funneled to AI chips.
For the data center segment, which includes AI chips, Intel reported revenue grew 9% to $3.3 billion, which beat analyst estimates of $3.16 billion.
However, Intel's share of the PC and server CPU market is consistently threatened by AMD (AMD.O), which now boasts a market valuation larger than that of Intel and is also the closest competitor to market leader Nvidia (NVDA.O) in AI graphics processors.
Finance chief Zinsner also told Reuters the company planned $12 billion to $14 billion in capital spending in 2025.
Revenue in the company’s contract manufacturing business, or foundry, shrank to $4.4 billion. Intel reported an adjusted gross margin of 18%, compared with analyst estimates of 37.9%
"Let’s be honest, expectations were quite low for the company and they beat those lowered expectations" said Ryan Detrick, chief market strategist of Carson Group. "Both products and foundry did well and the quarter overall was a nice job by the struggling company."
