Intel shares slump over 12% as AI competition hurts forecast

Intel forecast second-quarter of $12.5 billion to $13.5 billion, compared with analysts' average estimate of $13.57 billion, according to LSEG data.

"While we believe they are doing everything they can to try to repair things, it is clear the company is profoundly broken, and it take years to see the fruits of their (currently exhaustive) labor," Bernstein analysts said in a note.

Intel is planning a $100 billion spending spree across four U.S. states to build and expand factories. It also unveiled a new AI chip earlier this year to keep up with competition.

Friday's drop was set to erase nearly $19 billion from the company's market value, which stood at $149.4 billion as of Thursday's close.

Businesses have prioritized spending on advanced and speedy AI server chips, hurting for Intel's central processing units, which had long been the mainstay chip powering data centers.

Although encouraged by the launch of Intel's Gaudi 3 AI chip, "we worry the company will continue to cede wallet share within the overall data center compute market to the likes of Nvidia and Arm", Goldman Sachs analysts said.

Still, 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. That could translate to more demand for its chips used in those devices.

The company's earnings contrasted strong results from Microsoft and Alphabet, which are Nvidia clients and also design in-house chips for their data centers.