# Intel's foundry gamble crumbles as stock plunges 45%

> Intel's stock fell 45% in October after missing revenue targets, forcing the chipmaker to abandon its foundry strategy and shift resources to its own products.
- Title: Intel's foundry gamble crumbles as stock plunges 45% · CNBC
- Summary: Intel's stock fell 45% in October after missing revenue targets, forcing the chipmaker to abandon its foundry strategy and shift resources to its own…
- Keywords: intel, foundry business, stock decline, pc market, semiconductor manufacturing, tsmc, lip-bu tan, data center, 18a chips, capacity shortage, business, finance
- Source: CNBC — https://cnbc.com/2026/11/02/intel-foundry-faces-critical-test-after-stocks-45percent-plunge-in-october.html
- Author: Katie Tarasov
- Published: 2026-11-02T20:07:56+00:00
- Read time: 2 min
- Topics: intel, foundry business, stock decline, pc market, semiconductor manufacturing, tsmc, lip-bu tan, data center, 18a chips, capacity shortage, business, finance
## Intel's worst month on record
Intel's stock fell twenty nine percent on Friday, its worst day since the nineteen seventies, capping a forty five percent plunge in October, according to FactSet.
## Revenue miss triggers the collapse
Intel said revenue this quarter will be between one billion and two billion dollars shy of analyst estimates as the PC market suffers from soaring costs for memory and other components.
## PC market still half of revenue
Intel counts on its PC segment for roughly half of its revenue, and consumers are increasingly choosing not to upgrade their computers.
## Server market offers hope
CEO Lip-Bu Tan said he sees the global market for server processors increasing as much as five times over the next five years to about two hundred billion dollars.
## Data center growth masks problems
Intel's data center business recorded seventy eight percent growth in the third quarter from a year earlier to seven point three billion dollars, but the company cannot make enough chips to fill demand.
## Foundry strategy abandoned
Intel is shifting some Oregon factory capacity away from making advanced eighteen A chips to make more older Intel three chips for its data center products, undermining its foundry ambitions.
## Customers lose confidence
Harvard Business School professor David Yoffie said prospective foundry customers are concerned Intel doesn't have excess capacity beyond its own demand, making it not a credible supplier.

> They're concerned that if Intel doesn't actually have excess capacity beyond its own demand, that they're just not a very credible supplier.
## Competitor concerns block customers
Chipmakers like Broadcom and Qualcomm may hesitate to manufacture at Intel because it competes with them on the product side, creating a fundamental conflict of interest.
## Spin-off proposed as solution
David Yoffie said the right solution is for Intel to spin off the foundry business, calling it not only the best solution but maybe the only solution to attract customers.

> The right solution is for Intel to spin off the foundry business. Not only the best solution, but maybe the only solution.
## U.S. needs Intel to succeed
Yoffie said the United States needs Intel to succeed because TSMC can only create maybe twenty to twenty five percent of their global capacity in the United States.

> Ultimately, TSMC can only create maybe 20-25% of their global capacity in the United States and that will still take several years.
## Key takeaway

Intel's stock crashed forty five percent in October after the company missed revenue forecasts due to PC market weakness, forcing it to redirect advanced chip capacity to its own products instead of attracting outside foundry customers.