China Finance News on November 1st (Editor Huang Junzhi): On Thursday, after the US stock market, Intel released its third-quarter performance report, which seems not as bad as analysts had imagined. Not only is the revenue stronger than expected, but the performance guidance for the next quarter is slightly higher than expected, sparking optimistic market expectations that the company has the ability to regain some lost market share.

Boosted by this financial report, Intel's stock price rose by about 15% in after-hours trading, narrowing to 7% as of the time of publication. Since this year, due to the company's temporary disconnection from the AI ​​boom, Intel's stock price has fallen by over 50%, and its market cap has dropped below $100 billion, becoming the worst-performing among tech giants.

The latest financial report shows that Intel's third-quarter revenue was $13.28 billion, higher than analysts' previous expectations of $13.02 billion; adjusted loss per share was 46 cents, compared to analysts' expected loss of 2 cents, and 41 cents profit per share in the same period last year.

In terms of revenue breakdown, Intel Foundry's revenue was $4.35 billion, lower than analysts' expectations of $4.44 billion; Data center and Artificial Intelligence (AI) revenue for the third quarter was $3.35 billion, higher than analysts' expectations of $3.15 billion; Client computing revenue was $7.33 billion, slightly lower than analysts' expectations of $7.46 billion.

Furthermore, the adjusted gross margin for the quarter was 18%, lower than analysts' expectation of 38%; the adjusted operating profit margin for the third quarter was -17.8%, compared to 13.6% in the same period last year.

Intel's CFO David Zinsner stated in an interview that the company is making progress in profitability, but there is still a lot of work to be done to achieve the set goals.

In terms of performance guidance, Intel stated that it expects revenue in the fourth quarter to be between $13.3 billion and $14.3 billion, below analysts' expectation of $13.63 billion; adjusted earnings per share in the fourth quarter are expected to be $0.12, higher than analysts' expected $0.06 per share; and the adjusted gross margin for the fourth quarter is expected to be 39.5%, compared to analysts' expectation of 38.7%.

In addition, Intel reported that the company incurred a huge net loss due to impairment ($15.9 billion) and restructuring costs ($2.8 billion). The company stated in a statement that its revenue in the third quarter ending on September 28 fell by 6% year-on-year. The net loss in the third quarter was $16.99 billion, or $3.88 per share, compared to a net profit of $0.31 billion, or $0.7 per share in the same period last year.

Once a leader in the computer processor industry, Intel is now working to preserve cash to fund its turnaround plan. CEO Pat Gelsinger said in a conference call with analysts that the company is undergoing one of the most innovative restructurings since its founding in 1968.

In the previous quarter, Intel announced layoffs, expense cuts, and halted dividends to investors. Now Gelsinger needs to prove that he can fend off capital outflow by securing new orders from customers.

"This is a critical period for the company," Gelsinger said in an interview. "We have done a lot of things."