Intel After Q3: Can ‘IDM 2.0’ Execution, Foundry Ambitions and AI Accelerators Reignite Revenue and Margin Traction?
Intel’s third quarter delivered a cleaner revenue beat and a complicated bottom line, setting up a pivotal stretch for the chipmaker’s IDM 2.0 turnaround. Shares popped after-hours and in premarket trading as investors cheered improving PC demand and a resilient core CPU franchise, even as the company flagged unusual accounting for a government equity transaction and the lingering absence of marquee external customers for its foundry push. The stakes are clear. Intel is moving wafers on its 18A process in Arizona, has lined up a strategic $5 billion partnership with Nvidia to pair Intel CPUs alongside AI accelerators, and is calling out demand outpacing supply into next year. Yet it is contending with a foundry landscape dominated by TSMC’s AI-driven supercycle, heavy capital needs, and the urgency to show consistent process execution and external design wins. The next two quarters will reveal whether IDM 2.0 and AI attach rates can durably re-accelerate revenue and repair margins.