Intel’s fourth-quarter results showed revenue of $13.67 billion, down 4% year-over-year, while non-GAAP operating margin contracted to 20.3%, a 360-basis-point decline from a year earlier. Management’s first-quarter guidance calls for further revenue declines and flattish margins, signaling that the long-anticipated recovery in data-center and PC end markets has stalled. With valuation multiples having expanded sharply over the past year, analysts report that optimism for a turnaround is already priced in and have cut their ratings to sell, warning that downside risks loom if end-market demand fails to pick up.

At the Cisco AI Summit, CEO Lip-Bu Tan confirmed that Intel will enter the graphics-processing market, assembling a team led by data-center EVP Kevork Kechichian and former Qualcomm engineering SVP Eric Demmers. The initiative remains in early stages, with the company planning to develop products around customer needs rather than a pre-set roadmap. Intel’s move pits it directly against NVIDIA, which currently controls over 80% of the AI-GPU segment, and represents a notable pivot from Tan’s initial focus on refocusing the business on core CPU and foundry operations.

Investors have cheered Intel’s expanded foundry capacity investments and government-backed incentives, but the segment has yet to secure a marquee external customer. Recent production snags at the new 18A process node and supply disruptions from line conversions to server chip manufacturing have overshadowed better-than-expected quarterly results. Without a major third-party win, Intel’s foundry unit risks underutilization, leaving profitability goals for the unit—projected to breakeven in late 2026—at risk if customer commitments do not materialize.