Intel Plunges 25% Premarket After Weak Q4 Guidance Wipes $120 Billion in Market Value

Intel (INTC) shares tumbled about 25% in Friday premarket trading after the chipmaker's fourth-quarter guidance fell sharply below expectations, putting the stock on track for one of its worst trading days on record and erasing $120 billion in market value. The selloff followed Thursday's post-close release of third-quarter results, which beat estimates: adjusted EPS of $0.52 versus $0.40 expected, and revenue up 21% year over year to $16.5 billion. But Intel guided fourth-quarter revenue to $15 billion-$16 billion, well below the $17 billion-plus consensus, and projected gross margin to slide to 37%-38% from 44.1% in the third quarter. CEO Lip-Bu Tan cited a "tragic" accident at the company's Israel facility that halted operations for several weeks and disrupted server shipments, while noting PC industry headwinds. CFO David Zinsner said PC weakness should persist into the first half of next year, but flagged data center and AI revenue up 78% to $7.3 billion — the strongest growth in 15 years. Baird analysts remained cautious, citing expected share losses through 2027. The selloff spread across semiconductors: AMD fell 8.04%, Broadcom 3.92% and Nvidia about 2.8% in premarket trading.