{"id":304287,"date":"2026-01-26T11:23:14","date_gmt":"2026-01-26T11:23:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/304287\/"},"modified":"2026-01-26T11:23:14","modified_gmt":"2026-01-26T11:23:14","slug":"intel-hits-a-new-stumbling-block-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/304287\/","title":{"rendered":"Intel hits a new stumbling block \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

Just when it seemed like things were turning around for Intel<\/a>, the company has hit another stumbling block. <\/p>\n

In the past year, Intel has come back from the brink, as chief executive Lip Bu Tan\u2019s turnaround plan seemed to take effect. A series of deals with Nvidia, Softbank and the US government delivered new momentum for the company. <\/p>\n

Intel was enjoying a stock-market rally and riding a wave of optimism that, at last, it had reached a turning point. <\/p>\n

But then came the chipmaker\u2019s quarterly update late on Thursday, with a lacklustre forecast and a warning of manufacturing problems. <\/p>\n

In first-quarter projections, Intel said revenue and earnings were short of market estimates. Production issues are being blamed, in part at least, for the situation, with Intel also caught offguard by a surge in demand for server chips as the AI<\/a> boom continues. Intel burned through its stockpiles in the last quarter, and replenishing that will take time. <\/p>\n

The less-than-stellar update sent investors scuttling for cover, with shares tumbling more than 16 per cent on Friday. At more than $45, they are still trading far above the $21.69 they languished at a year ago, but it represents a serious slump for the company. <\/p>\n

Has Intel miscalculated? <\/p>\n

None of this was in Tan\u2019s plan for the company. A focus on high-margin custom silicon, slashing costs and more targeted investment were all mooted as part of an aggressive restructuring of the once-mighty chipmaker. And, until recently, it seemed to be having the desired effect. <\/p>\n

The sheer scale of demand for AI server chips has come as something of a surprise, but it also presents a dilemma. Intel can\u2019t move too aggressively to satisfy the server market without hurting its PC customers. At the same time, concentrating on PCs too intently could also prove a mistake. <\/p>\n

The AI boom looks likely to take another scalp \u2013 affordable computers \u2013 as demand has a knock-on effect for component costs. If prices for AI-enabled computers rise significantly, it may hurt demand in that sector. <\/p>\n

Turning a company\u2019s fortunes around, particularly when they are an industry juggernaut of Intel\u2019s size, takes time. That was something Tan reminded analysts of in a call, describing it as a \u201cmultiyear journey\u201d. But Wall Street is not known for its patience. Intel and its investors will be hoping to see some real progress before its time runs out. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Just when it seemed like things were turning around for Intel, the company has hit another stumbling block.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":304288,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[261],"tags":[291,289,290,2355,18,19,3572,17,82],"class_list":{"0":"post-304287","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-artificial-intelligence","8":"tag-ai","9":"tag-artificial-intelligence","10":"tag-artificialintelligence","11":"tag-cantillon","12":"tag-eire","13":"tag-ie","14":"tag-intel","15":"tag-ireland","16":"tag-technology"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/115961148343044541","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/304287","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=304287"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/304287\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/304288"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=304287"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=304287"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=304287"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}