Intel (INTC) shares fell 29% on Friday, closing at $65.76, down $26.31 from Thursday’s close of $92.07. The stock traded as low as $63.20 during the session, while trading volume reached 455.6 million shares—more than four times the average of 107.7 million. Shares declined another 1% in after-hours trading to $64.89.

The sell-off followed Intel’s third-quarter results and fourth-quarter guidance. Revenue for the third quarter increased 21% year over year to $16.5 billion. Adjusted net income rose 169% to $2.8 billion, while adjusted earnings per share climbed 126% to $0.52. The market reaction, however, hinged less on the reported quarter than on the company’s outlook, which fell well short of Wall Street’s estimates.

Data center and artificial intelligence sales accounted for much of the growth. Revenue from that segment rose 78% to $7.3 billion. Intel’s client computing business, however, reported a 5% decline in revenue to $8.1 billion—a split that framed the company’s near-term challenge heading into the final quarter of the year.

Why Investors Sold

Intel expects fourth-quarter revenue of $15 billion to $16 billion and adjusted earnings per share of $0.25. Those figures fell short of analysts’ expectations for approximately $17.1 billion in revenue and $0.43 in earnings per share.

CEO Lip-Bu Tan attributed part of the pressure to rising memory chip prices. He said higher memory costs are straining corporate information-technology budgets and reducing demand for PC processors, as buyers allocate more spending to memory and less to Intel’s chips.

Tan also cited an accident at Intel’s factory in Israel that resulted in an extended shutdown. The disruption is expected to reduce server chip shipments in the fourth quarter.

CFO David Zinsner said the slowdown in the PC market should continue “at least through the first half of next year.”

Memory-market conditions are also being monitored. SK Hynix said earlier this month that it expects demand for memory chips to exceed supply through the end of the decade, a situation that could continue to pressure PC manufacturers. With both the memory-price squeeze and the Israel shutdown expected to weigh on the fourth quarter, Intel’s next earnings report will indicate how durable those headwinds prove to be.

At one point on Friday morning, Intel was on pace for its worst daily decline since 1974. The fall erased nearly $150 billion from the company’s market value, leaving its market capitalization near $347.6 billion.

BREAKING: Intel, $INTC , extends losses to -30% on the day, now on track for its biggest decline on record. Not even the Dot-Com bubble or 1970s saw a decline in $INTC like this. pic.twitter.com/nQgX594Ix9 — The Kobeissi Letter (@KobeissiLetter) October 30, 2026

The post was published by The Kobeissi Letter on X: https://x.com/KobeissiLetter/status/2116166412024868892?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw

Government Stake Loses Value

The US government owns a stake in Intel. Last August, the Trump administration acquired a 9.9% interest at $20.47 per share, representing 433.3 million primary shares worth approximately $8.9 billion at the time—a position large enough to make the federal government one of Intel’s biggest shareholders.

At Thursday’s closing price, the government’s stake was valued at about $39.9 billion. Following Friday’s decline, its value fell to roughly $28.5 billion, representing a paper loss of more than $11 billion in one day.

The investment remains above its purchase price: Friday’s closing price was more than three times the $20.47 paid by the government, leaving the position worth more than triple its original $8.9 billion outlay. Intel’s 52-week trading range is $32.89 to $142.35, a span that illustrates how widely the stock has swung over the past year.

At Friday’s close, Intel had a daily range of $63.20 to $68.77 and a gross margin of 56.08%.

Source: https://coincentral.com/why-intel-intc-stock-crashed-29-on-friday/