Intel says quarterly revenue rose 25% as AI firms buy more CPUs

In short: Intel says its latest quarterly revenue jumped 25% to $16.1 billion, helped by rising demand for its CPU chips from AI and cloud data centers.

What's going on

Intel reported quarterly revenue of $16.1 billion, up 25%. The company said this was its fastest growth in 15 years.

Intel pointed to stronger demand for central processing units, or CPUs. A CPU is the general purpose “brain” chip in a computer that handles many different kinds of tasks. Intel’s CEO, Lip-Bu Tan, said, “A.I. is driving unprecedented demand for compute,” meaning companies are buying more hardware to run and train AI systems.

A big part of the growth came from Intel’s data center division, which the company said grew by nearly 60%. Data centers are large buildings filled with computers that power websites and apps. They are also used to run AI models, which can require huge amounts of computing power.

The report also highlights a shift in what AI companies are buying. Many have been spending heavily on graphics processing units, or GPUs, often associated with Nvidia. Now they are also buying more CPUs, which work alongside GPUs, like a manager coordinating a team of specialists (the CPU) while the specialists do intense number crunching (the GPUs).

What to watch

The wider chip market still looks strong in 2026. Deloitte has projected global semiconductor sales of $975 billion this year, partly because of AI-related spending. If AI data center building continues at this pace, investors will be watching whether Intel can keep benefiting as CPU demand rises alongside GPU demand.

Source: NYTimes