Africa-Press – Mauritius. Intel shares surged around 30% in the pre-market trading on Friday after the US chipmaker reported stronger-than-expected first-quarter revenue and issued an upbeat outlook, supported by rising demand for artificial intelligence-related computing and semiconductor capacity.
The company said Thursday that first-quarter revenue reached $13.6 billion, up 7% from the same period last year. Intel posted an earnings per share of $0.29.
Intel forecast second-quarter revenue of between $13.8 billion and $14.8 billion.
“The next wave of AI will bring intelligence closer to the end user, moving from foundational models to inference to agentic,” Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan said in the company’s earnings statement.
He said the shift is increasing demand for Intel’s CPUs, wafer production, and advanced packaging offerings, adding that the company recorded its sixth consecutive quarter of revenue above expectations.
Intel Chief Financial Officer David Zinsner said the results reflected “the growing and essential role of the CPU in the AI era” and “unprecedented demand for silicon,” while noting that the company remained focused on expanding available supply.
The company’s Data Center and AI segment generated $5.1 billion in revenue in the first quarter, up 22% year-on-year, while Client Computing Group revenue rose 1% to $7.7 billion. Intel Foundry revenue increased 16% to $5.4 billion.
Intel said it also generated $1.1 billion in cash from operations during the quarter.
The company highlighted several AI and infrastructure-related developments, including expanded deployment of Intel Xeon processors with Google, selection of Intel Xeon 6 as the host CPU for NVIDIA’s DGX Rubin NVL8 systems, and its role as a strategic partner in the Terafab project alongside SpaceX, xAI, and Tesla.
The latest figures come after a turbulent period for Intel, which faced mounting pressure in 2025 from heavy losses, manufacturing setbacks, and weak competitiveness in advanced chips.
In August 2025, Intel announced an agreement with the Trump administration under which the US government would invest $8.9 billion in Intel common stock. Under the deal, the government agreed to purchase 433.3 million primary shares at $20.47 per share, equivalent to a 9.9% stake in the company.
Intel said at the time that the investment would be passive, with no board representation or other governance or information rights. The company said $5.7 billion of the investment would come from previously awarded but unpaid CHIPS Act grants, while $3.2 billion would come from the Secure Enclave program.
The intervention was framed by the administration and Intel as a step to support US semiconductor manufacturing and national security priorities.
