Intel Q2 2026 Earnings Beat

Intel reported second‑quarter 2026 revenue of $16.13 billion, surpassing the Wall Street consensus of $14.33 billion by approximately $1.8 billion. Adjusted earnings per share were $0.42, well above the consensus estimate of $0.21. The revenue increase represents Intel’s fastest growth in nearly 15 years.

The company closed the regular NYSE session at $100.10, down 2.46 % on the day, but surged about 9.51 % in after‑hours trading to roughly $109.76 following the earnings release. AMD finished the session at $539.51 and rose about 2.93 % after hours to approximately $555.49. Arm ended at $283.04 and added roughly 4.26 % after hours to about $295.11.

Intel’s Client Computing Group generated $8.9 billion in revenue, a 13 % year‑over‑year increase. The beat was underpinned by a broader supply crunch in server CPUs, with Chinese data‑centre customers seeing price increases of more than 40 % since the start of 2026 and month‑on‑month rises topping 10 %.

CEO Lip‑Bu Tan noted on an analyst call in April that demand continues to run ahead of supply, especially for Xeon server CPUs, and referenced a multi‑year supply agreement with Google signed in the first quarter of 2026, with lead times for some products extending to six months.

For the third quarter of 2026, Intel guided revenue between $15.8 billion and $16.8 billion, above the consensus estimate of $15.1 billion. The midpoint of this range would mark Intel’s third consecutive quarter of double‑digit year‑over‑year growth.

The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index (SOX) had fallen roughly 20 % from its June record prior to Intel’s report; the strong quarter may help arrest that decline, though durability will depend on upcoming earnings.

AMD is scheduled to release its own Q2 2026 results on August 4, with consensus EPS of $1.61, and has raised its server‑CPU market forecast to over $120 billion by 2030, citing strong demand from agentic AI workloads. Arm will report its fiscal quarter on July 29, with consensus EPS of $0.37; options markets had implied an approximately 11 % move around that date. Their after‑hours gains reflect sector optimism, though Arm’s performance will hinge on royalty volumes and licensing trends rather than Intel’s shipment story.