• Intel shares slumped more than 12% on Friday.
  • The stock has fallen around 30% so far this year as Intel trails rival chip companies such as Nvidia in producing advanced artificial intelligence (AI) chips and components.
  • Intel is optimistic that a fresh upgrade cycle for personal computers around a new version of Microsoft’s Windows operating system will help PC sales in the second half of the year.

Intel’s stock fell more than 12% on Friday as a negative estimate suggested that enterprise spending on its traditional data centre chips was being replaced by artificial intelligence (AI) technology.

Reasons for Intel shares slumping

Since Intel is lagging behind rival chip manufacturers like Nvidia in the production of cutting-edge artificial intelligence (AI) chips and components, the stock has dropped by about 30% this year.

Based on LSEG data, Intel predicted revenue for the second quarter of $12.5 billion to $13.5 billion, which was lower than the average estimate of $13.57 billion made by analysts.

Intel intends to build and expand factories across four US states with a $100 billion spending spree. To stay competitive, it also unveiled a new AI chip earlier this year.

The company’s market value, which was $149.4 billion at the end of Thursday, was expected to be nearly destroyed by Friday’s decline.

The demand for Intel’s central processing units, which had long been the primary chip-powering data centres, has been negatively impacted by businesses prioritizing spending on cutting-edge and quick AI server chips.

Despite being encouraged by the introduction of Intel’s Gaudi 3 AI chip, Goldman Sachs analysts expressed concern that the company would keep losing wallet share to competitors like Nvidia and Arm in the larger data centre compute market.

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Intel’s perception

Nevertheless, Intel maintains its optimistic view that a new PC upgrade cycle centred around a new iteration of Microsoft’s Windows operating system will boost PC sales in the second part of 2011. This might result in increased demand for the chips that are used in those gadgets.

The company’s earnings fell short of the impressive outcomes of Nvidia’s clients, Microsoft and Alphabet, who also create their in-house chips for data centres.