Intel Stock Surges 9% on Q3 Revenue Beat and $8.9 Billion U.S. Government Investment

Intel Corporation (INTC) reported a strong third-quarter performance for 2025, with revenue reaching $13.65 billion, surpassing analyst estimates of $13.14 billion. This led to a 9% surge in premarket trading, marking a significant rebound for the chipmaker after a challenging 2024 that saw its first annual loss in nearly four decades.

The U.S. government became Intel's largest shareholder in August 2025 through an $8.9 billion investment negotiated by the Trump administration, acquiring 433.3 million shares at $20.47 per share for a 10% stake. Intel received $5.7 billion from this deal during Q3, though it recorded a per-share loss of 37 cents to account for shares held in escrow. CEO Lip-Bu Tan emphasized the company's commitment to advancing the administration's vision to restore semiconductor production.

Additional financial support came from a $5 billion investment by Nvidia in September 2025, which includes integrating Intel's CPUs with Nvidia's GPUs to tap into the AI chip market, where Nvidia holds a 90% share. SoftBank also invested during this period. Intel's net income for Q3 was $4.1 billion, or 90 cents per share, a sharp reversal from a net loss of $16.6 billion in the same quarter last year. Adjusted earnings per share were 23 cents.

Cost-cutting measures under Tan's leadership included reducing the workforce by over 20%, from 124,100 to 88,400 employees year-over-year, and selling a majority stake in the Altera subsidiary. Despite these efforts, Intel faces manufacturing challenges; its advanced 18A process won't reach acceptable yield levels until 2027, and the Intel Foundry division reported $4.2 billion in sales, down 2% annually, with no major external customers secured yet. The foundry requires $100 billion in capital investment.

For Q4 2025, Intel guided revenue to $13.3 billion at the midpoint with adjusted earnings of 8 cents per share. CFO Dave Zinsner noted that demand for chips is outpacing supply, a trend expected to persist into 2026, particularly in data centers upgrading for AI workloads. However, Bernstein analysts cautioned that the turnaround is far from over, and accounting treatments for the government investment may be revised due to ongoing SEC delays amid a government shutdown.