On January 22, 2026, after the market closed, Intel released its earnings report. The figures showed that for the fourth quarter of 2025, its revenue stood at $13.7 billion, marking a 4% decline year-on-year. For the entire year, the revenue amounted to $52.9 billion. Looking ahead, the company projected that its revenue for the first quarter of 2026 would range between $11.7 billion and $12.7 billion, with earnings per share expected to break even. This projection fell short of market expectations, triggering a sharp 13% drop in Intel's stock price during after-hours trading.

Intel explained that the primary reasons behind this situation were inadequate chip manufacturing yields and limited production capacity. Specifically, bottlenecks in the Intel 7 and Intel 10 manufacturing processes have hindered its ability to keep up with the soaring demand for processors used in artificial intelligence data center servers.

Currently, Intel is giving top priority to the production of high-margin server chips. However, it is anticipated that the overall supply will remain tight throughout the first quarter of 2026, with a gradual improvement expected thereafter. Additionally, Intel is actively pushing forward its research and development efforts on the 18A and 14A advanced manufacturing processes. Nevertheless, it still faces significant challenges in terms of current capacity and yields.