Intel beats expectations with $13.6bn Q1 revenue on data center strength

Intel reported first-quarter 2026 revenue of $13.6 billion, a seven percent increase year over year that sent shares up 20 percent. The results suggest the chipmaker may be reversing a streak in which revenue declined in five of the past seven quarters. Data center sales led the growth, rising 22 percent year over year to $5.1 billion and generating $1.5 billion in operating profit. Intel Foundry revenue climbed 16 percent to $5.4 billion, while the ASIC segment nearly doubled from a year earlier and rose 30 percent sequentially to just over $1 billion. External foundry revenue was $174 million. For the second quarter, Intel forecast revenue between $13.8 billion and $14.8 billion, above analyst expectations of $13.07 billion. Chief Executive Lip-Bu Tan told investors the company has taken "deliberate steps to rebuild Intel into a more competitive and more profitable company." Despite the revenue beat, Intel posted a net loss of $4.28 billion for the quarter, including $2.4 billion from Intel Foundry. The company also continues to face supply constraints, with Tan acknowledging on the earnings call that CPU demand outpaces supply. Chief Financial Officer David Zinsner warned that rising costs for memory, wafers, and substrates could affect demand later in the year. Intel has been active on the partnership front, announcing a collaboration with SambaNova in February and a multiyear CPU deployment with Google in April. The company also said it will join Tesla's TeraFab project in Austin, Texas, where Tesla plans to use Intel's 14A manufacturing process.