Intel Shares Fall 45% in October After Weak Quarterly Outlook

Intel shares fell 45% in October, the steepest monthly decline in the company’s history, as weak PC demand and a production shift intensified questions about its foundry ambitions.

The stock dropped 29% in October’s final trading session, its largest one-day decline since the 1970s, then lost another 8% in November’s first session.

Intel expects quarterly revenue to come in $1 billion to $2 billion below analyst forecasts. The company cited weak PC demand and higher memory and other component costs. Its PC business still accounts for about half of revenue, leaving Intel exposed to softness in a market facing industrywide pressure.

Intel’s data center business is growing, but production limits have constrained server-chip supply. The company is shifting some capacity at its Oregon factories from the advanced 18A process to Intel 3 to make more server CPUs. That reallocation puts more capacity toward server supply while raising questions about how much advanced-process output Intel can provide to outside foundry customers. The concerns center on both its manufacturing capacity and its ability to deliver for those customers.

Harvard Business School professor David Yoffie has warned that Intel will struggle to become a credible foundry supplier if it cannot produce enough chips beyond its own needs. Intel CEO 陈立武 expects the company to announce several foundry customers over the next two quarters. Progress in expanding its customer base will be a key measure of the foundry business’s transformation.

D.A. Davidson lowered its Intel rating from buy to neutral, saying weakness in the PC business makes the company’s valuation harder to support despite pressure across the industry. Raymond James chief market strategist Matt Orton said the current environment did not amount to an AI-sector capitulation, while fundamentals remained strong and investors needed to reassess crowded positions.