At the moment on the corporate’s Q3 2025 earnings name, the place Intel noticed its first revenue in practically two years due primarily to these lifelines, CEO Lip-Bu Tan and CFO David Zinsner defined how the corporate doesn’t but have sufficient chips. It’s presently seeing shortages that it expects to peak within the first quarter of subsequent 12 months — within the meantime, leaders say they’re going to prioritize AI server chips over some client processors because it offers with provide and demand.
“We count on CCG [Intel’s consumer chips] to be down modestly and DCAI [Intel’s server chips] to be up strongly as we prioritize capability for server shipments over entry stage shopper elements,” Intel says. Tan revealed at the moment that Intel can even launch new AI GPUs every 12 months, following Nvidia and AMD in shaking up their conventional cadence to deal with the massive demand for AI servers. It’s not clear what that may imply for these hoping for extra Intel gaming GPUs.
Whereas all eyes are on Intel’s scorching new Panther Lake and its 18A course of to point out the world it could possibly nonetheless take advantage of potent client PC chips and make them in-house, the corporate reiterated it’s solely launching one SKU of Panther Lake this 12 months and slowly rolling out others in 2026. Right here’s one other potential cause why: Zinsner hinted at the moment that Panther Lake shall be a “fairly costly” product to start out with, and Intel’s going to need to push its current Lunar Lake chips as an alternative “in not less than the primary half of the 12 months.”
Whereas Intel has repeatedly pushed again towards the concept its 18A course of had poor yields, the corporate admitted to buyers and analysts at the moment that it’s not able to be an enormous monetary success both: yields are “ample to deal with the availability however not the place we want them to be to drive the suitable stage of margins,” says Zinsner, suggesting that it is perhaps 2026, and even 2027 for an “acceptable stage of yields” in that regard.
For now, Intel shall be “working carefully with prospects to maximise our obtainable output, together with adjusting pricing and blend, to shift demand in the direction of merchandise the place now we have provide they usually have demand” — which seems like taking part in with the costs it expenses PC makers to stay Intel inside their computer systems and pointing them at Lunar Lake elements as an alternative of scorching new ones. Tan reiterated at the moment that he’s not going to put money into extra capability until there’s “dedicated exterior demand,” and Zinsner says investments in capability subsequent 12 months received’t “considerably change expectations”.
Intel says that 18A shall be a “long-lived node” that may energy “not less than the following three generations of shopper and server merchandise.” When you have been hoping for a return to the “tick-tock” days the place Intel would alternate between shrinking its chips and releasing new architectures each era, that’s not taking place right here.
However that doesn’t imply Intel will cancel its subsequent node, Intel 14A, because it warned it would. Tan urged at the moment that prospects have stepped in to save lots of 14A, and Intel, that the corporate is “delighted and extra assured” in it, and Zinsner says it’s not solely “off to begin,” however higher than 18A was at this level “when it comes to efficiency and yields.”
