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INTC · Forward model · Bear case

The Bear case, 20 quarters out

Each segment is projected from its own operating driver, rolled up into consolidated cash flow, and discounted back to a fair value per share. The assumptions below are editable — change them and every number on this page moves with them.

Five revenue lines - CCPG, DCAI, Intel Foundry, All Other and intersegment eliminations as an explicit negative contra-line - because that is the only shape that reproduces reported consolidated revenue with zero residual in every one of the ten disclosed quarters (2026 Q2: 8,877 + 6,262 + 5,765 + 701 - 5,477 = 16,128). History runs from 2024 Q1 because Intel reorganised its segments in 2025 Q1 and recast comparatives only that far; no pre-2024 quarter exists on this basis and none has been spliced in. Every actual is disclosed, so nothing in the history is marked estimated. Nothing below the segment line is modelled: notebook versus desktop is reported collectively, Xeon versus Gaudi versus ASIC is not split, and no absolute unit, ASP, wafer volume or capacity figure appears in any Intel filing - which is why all five lines carry growth drivers and none carries a unit or capacity driver. All five verticals are aseasonal on the brief's own evidence: derived two-window factors would put 2026 Q3 at $16.95B on zero underlying growth, above the top of Intel's guided range. Depreciation is carried entirely inside Intel Foundry, which is where the depreciating manufacturing base sits, so that segment's EBITDA margin is positive while its operating margin is not; the cash cost of that capital is charged separately through the four corporate capital programmes, none of which belongs to a single vertical. Corporate overhead of 8.78% of revenue is the disclosed 2026 Q2 corporate unallocated expense of $1,416M, held as a constant share of revenue. Tax is the disclosed 11% non-GAAP rate; the GAAP rate of (0.3)% is meaningless as a forward rate. GAAP earnings are unusable while the Escrowed Shares derivative dominates them - a $12,529M non-operating mark-to-market loss in 2026 Q2, worth $2.45 of the $(2.16) GAAP EPS, driven entirely by Intel's own share price rising. Shares of 5,285M and net cash of $1,810M are pro forma for the 12 August 2026 sale of 242,105,262 shares at $95.00; the price of $88.24 is the 26 August 2026 close and supersedes the stale $140.94 in the company profile.

Scarcity pricing unwinds and the capital programme keeps rising into it. Intel itself says client supply constraints ease over the second half of 2026, and client volume is already falling 8% year over year, so if the 27% ASP gain reverses there is no unit growth underneath it - this case steps client revenue down 8% from 2027 Q1 and server revenue down 12% from 2027 Q3, as price events that leave wafer volume, and therefore Intel Foundry, untouched. Foundry's 2026 Q2 loss improvement was $1.4B of lower period charges against $340M of lower product profit on costlier 18A wafers. Revenue ends 2030 at about $60B, below 2026. The capital programme is held at the base-case schedule in every case, which Intel would not do in this world, so the free cash flow path here is harsher than reality.

INTC REVENUE MODEL

Latest: $15.11B (2031Q2E)

Period Value
2024Q1 $12.72B
2024Q2 $12.83B
2024Q3 $13.28B
2024Q4 $14.26B
2025Q1 $12.67B
2025Q2 $12.86B
2025Q3 $13.65B
2025Q4 $13.67B
2026Q1 $13.58B
2026Q2 $16.13B
2026Q3E $16.17B
2026Q4E $16.21B
2027Q1E $15.55B
2027Q2E $15.58B
2027Q3E $14.81B
2027Q4E $14.83B
2028Q1E $14.85B
2028Q2E $14.87B
2028Q3E $14.88B
2028Q4E $14.90B
2029Q1E $14.92B
2029Q2E $14.94B
2029Q3E $14.96B
2029Q4E $14.98B
2030Q1E $15.00B
2030Q2E $15.02B
2030Q3E $15.04B
2030Q4E $15.06B
2031Q1E $15.09B
2031Q2E $15.11B

What drives each segment

Client Computing and Physical AI

Growth path
Basis quarter$8.88B
Final quarter$7.07B
Implied CAGR-4%
Share of revenue, final quarter47%
PV of segment cash flow$24.37B

The PC and edge franchise, and no longer a volume story. In 2026 Q2 client volume fell 8% year over year while client ASP rose 27%, so the segment's $8,877M came from premium mix and demand-based pricing under a supply constraint Intel expects to ease over the second half of 2026. The projection therefore carries almost no sequential growth: volume recovery offsets ASP normalisation rather than adding to it.

Last four quarters
2025 Q3 $8.54B Reported
2025 Q4 $8.19B Reported
2026 Q1 $7.73B Reported
2026 Q2 $8.88B Reported
Client processors (notebook and desktop, reported collectively)Other CCPG: edge, physical AI and robotics silicon
Sequential growth +0.3%/qtr decaying toward +0.6% +0.3% into 2026 Q3: Intel says client supply eases in H2, so returning volume roughly offsets ASP normalisation.
Client Computing and Physical AI

Latest: $7.07B (2031Q2E)

Period Value
2024Q1 $8.27B
2024Q2 $8.14B
2024Q3 $8.16B
2024Q4 $8.77B
2025Q1 $7.63B
2025Q2 $7.87B
2025Q3 $8.54B
2025Q4 $8.19B
2026Q1 $7.73B
2026Q2 $8.88B
2026Q3E $8.80B
2026Q4E $8.72B
2027Q1E $7.96B
2027Q2E $7.89B
2027Q3E $7.83B
2027Q4E $7.77B
2028Q1E $7.71B
2028Q2E $7.66B
2028Q3E $7.60B
2028Q4E $7.55B
2029Q1E $7.50B
2029Q2E $7.44B
2029Q3E $7.39B
2029Q4E $7.35B
2030Q1E $7.30B
2030Q2E $7.25B
2030Q3E $7.20B
2030Q4E $7.16B
2031Q1E $7.11B
2031Q2E $7.07B

Assumptions & reasoning

  • Segment revenue is reported on the post-2025 basis that redistributed the former NEX segment into CCPG and DCAI. Intel recast comparatives only back to 2024 Q1, which is why the history is ten quarters and not twelve.
  • Intel discloses client revenue only as a price/volume percentage decomposition - ASP +27%, volume -8% in 2026 Q2 - and never publishes absolute units or absolute ASPs, so a unit driver here would require inventing the base.
  • The 26.4% EBITDA margin is the disclosed 26% segment operating margin ($2,343M on $8,877M); no depreciation is added to this line because Intel's manufacturing assets sit inside Intel Foundry.
  • Q2 2026 already absorbed $669M of higher period charges taken to align product mix with customer demand, so the basis quarter is not a clean margin peak.

Data Center and AI

Growth path
Basis quarter$6.26B
Final quarter$6.75B
Implied CAGR+2%
Share of revenue, final quarter45%
PV of segment cash flow$30.46B

The growth engine and the core of the claim under test. DCAI revenue rose 59% year over year to $6,262M in 2026 Q2 on server ASP +48% and server volume +9%, with ASIC revenue inside 'Other DCAI' ($951M) growing faster than the segment. Intel says internal wafer supply, not demand, is the binding constraint and that it persists into 2027, so the model grows the line fast at first and then tapers as capacity arrives and ASPs normalise.

Last four quarters
2025 Q3 $4.12B Reported
2025 Q4 $4.74B Reported
2026 Q1 $5.05B Reported
2026 Q2 $6.26B Reported
Server CPUs (Xeon)Other DCAI: AI accelerators, NICs, IPUs and purpose-built silicon (ASICs)
Sequential growth +3.0%/qtr decaying toward +2.0% +3.0% into 2026 Q3, the largest single contributor to the guided $15.8-16.8B range; supply, not demand, sets it.
Data Center and AI

Latest: $6.75B (2031Q2E)

Period Value
2024Q1 $3.83B
2024Q2 $3.81B
2024Q3 $4.14B
2024Q4 $4.35B
2025Q1 $4.13B
2025Q2 $3.94B
2025Q3 $4.12B
2025Q4 $4.74B
2026Q1 $5.05B
2026Q2 $6.26B
2026Q3E $6.37B
2026Q4E $6.47B
2027Q1E $6.56B
2027Q2E $6.65B
2027Q3E $5.92B
2027Q4E $5.98B
2028Q1E $6.05B
2028Q2E $6.11B
2028Q3E $6.16B
2028Q4E $6.22B
2029Q1E $6.27B
2029Q2E $6.33B
2029Q3E $6.38B
2029Q4E $6.43B
2030Q1E $6.49B
2030Q2E $6.54B
2030Q3E $6.59B
2030Q4E $6.64B
2031Q1E $6.70B
2031Q2E $6.75B

Assumptions & reasoning

  • Intel prints the server line only as a change, not a level: $5,311M of server revenue in 2026 Q2 is derived as segment revenue $6,262M less the disclosed Other DCAI $951M, and is used for context only, not as a driver input.
  • No split into Xeon, Gaudi and ASIC is modelled because none is disclosed; Gaudi is not separately quantified anywhere in the 2026 filings.
  • The 39.5% EBITDA margin is the segment operating margin implied by the disclosed segment table: consolidated operating income $1,796M plus corporate unallocated $1,416M less CCPG $2,343M, Foundry $(2,089)M, All Other $230M and eliminations $254M leaves $2,474M on $6,262M.
  • A significant portion of current and anticipated revenue comes from Intel 7 products made in Israel, which Intel discloses is not insured for war-related business interruption.

Intel Foundry

Growth path
Basis quarter$5.76B
Final quarter$6.55B
Implied CAGR+3%
Share of revenue, final quarter43%
PV of segment cash flow$26.54B

Process technology, manufacturing and advanced packaging. Roughly 95% of its $5,765M of 2026 Q2 revenue is internal wafer transfer to Intel Products, so it barely moves consolidated revenue - but it carries the whole capital programme, all of the depreciation and a $(2,089)M quarterly segment operating loss. The external business is real and tiny: $293M in the quarter, and mostly Altera moving from subsidiary to customer.

Last four quarters
2025 Q3 $4.24B Reported
2025 Q4 $4.51B Reported
2026 Q1 $5.42B Reported
2026 Q2 $5.76B Reported
Intersegment wafer, assembly/test and advanced packaging supply to Intel ProductsExternal foundry services
Sequential growth +2.0%/qtr decaying toward +1.8% +2.0% into 2026 Q3 on higher Intel 18A, Intel 3 and Intel 4 wafer volumes, which Intel says carry higher ASPs.
Intel Foundry

Latest: $6.55B (2031Q2E)

Period Value
2024Q1 $4.36B
2024Q2 $4.28B
2024Q3 $4.34B
2024Q4 $4.34B
2025Q1 $4.67B
2025Q2 $4.42B
2025Q3 $4.24B
2025Q4 $4.51B
2026Q1 $5.42B
2026Q2 $5.76B
2026Q3E $5.81B
2026Q4E $5.85B
2027Q1E $5.90B
2027Q2E $5.94B
2027Q3E $5.98B
2027Q4E $6.02B
2028Q1E $6.06B
2028Q2E $6.09B
2028Q3E $6.13B
2028Q4E $6.17B
2029Q1E $6.21B
2029Q2E $6.25B
2029Q3E $6.29B
2029Q4E $6.32B
2030Q1E $6.36B
2030Q2E $6.40B
2030Q3E $6.44B
2030Q4E $6.48B
2031Q1E $6.51B
2031Q2E $6.55B

Assumptions & reasoning

  • External foundry revenue is not modelled as its own vertical: Intel discloses it only from 2025 Q1 and does not break out 2025 Q3 or 2025 Q4, so four of the ten quarters would be gaps.
  • The 14.9% EBITDA margin is the disclosed (36)% segment operating margin with the whole of Intel's depreciation added back - $5,891M in 2026 H1, about $2,950M in the quarter - because substantially all of the depreciating manufacturing base sits in this segment.
  • The margin glides toward 50% - reaching 43% by 2031 Q2 - because depreciation grows with the capital programme while the segment operating margin improves only to the assumed (10)%; the cash cost of that capital is charged separately as a corporate programme, so nothing is double counted.
  • The 2026 Q2 loss improvement was charge relief, not operating leverage: $1.4B of lower period charges, against $340M of lower product profit from the higher-cost Intel 18A wafer mix.

All Other

Growth path
Basis quarter$701M
Final quarter$646M
Implied CAGR-2%
Share of revenue, final quarter4%
PV of segment cash flow$1.99B

A residual bucket of unlike businesses rather than a business: Mobileye at $507M in 2026 Q2, IMS multi-beam mask writing tools, and start-ups. The line halved when Altera was deconsolidated on 12 September 2025, which is why the 2025 Q4 print of $574M sits so far below the $1,113M of 2024 Q4. The projection starts from the post-Altera base and grows with Mobileye, not with Intel.

Last four quarters
2025 Q3 $993M Reported
2025 Q4 $574M Reported
2026 Q1 $628M Reported
2026 Q2 $701M Reported
MobileyeIMS multi-beam mask writing toolsStart-up businessesAltera, consolidated through 11 September 2025
Sequential growth +0.8%/qtr decaying toward +0.8% +0.8% into 2026 Q3. Mobileye revenue was flat year over year at $507M; nothing here is compounding.
All Other

Latest: $646M (2031Q2E)

Period Value
2024Q1 $643M
2024Q2 $881M
2024Q3 $964M
2024Q4 $1.11B
2025Q1 $943M
2025Q2 $1.05B
2025Q3 $993M
2025Q4 $574M
2026Q1 $628M
2026Q2 $701M
2026Q3E $698M
2026Q4E $695M
2027Q1E $692M
2027Q2E $690M
2027Q3E $687M
2027Q4E $684M
2028Q1E $681M
2028Q2E $678M
2028Q3E $676M
2028Q4E $673M
2029Q1E $670M
2029Q2E $667M
2029Q3E $665M
2029Q4E $662M
2030Q1E $659M
2030Q2E $656M
2030Q3E $654M
2030Q4E $651M
2031Q1E $648M
2031Q2E $646M

Assumptions & reasoning

  • The 2025 Q4 fall is a structural break from the Altera deconsolidation, not a seasonal trough; any growth path has to start from the post-Altera base of $574M to $701M a quarter.
  • Mobileye is separately listed and consolidated, so this line carries a business whose product cycle Intel does not control and whose margins are cyclical.
  • The 32.8% EBITDA margin is the disclosed 33% segment operating margin ($230M on $701M) and glides down to an assumed 18%, because one quarter at 33% on a residual bucket is not a run rate.

Intersegment eliminations

Growth path
Basis quarter-$5.48B
Final quarter-$5.90B
Share of revenue, final quarter-39%
PV of segment cash flow$7.41B

Not a business line but the contra-line that makes the model reconcile: it removes Intel Foundry's internal wafer sales to Intel Products on consolidation. It is the only shape that reproduces reported consolidated revenue with zero residual in all ten disclosed quarters, and it is projected as a coupled ratio of Intel Foundry revenue rather than as an independent growth line.

Last four quarters
2025 Q3 -$4.23B Reported
2025 Q4 -$4.34B Reported
2026 Q1 -$5.25B Reported
2026 Q2 -$5.48B Reported
Elimination of Intel Foundry intersegment revenueA small residual from other intersegment activity, $5M in 2026 Q2
Sequential growth +1.7%/qtr decaying toward +1.5% +1.73%, which is Intel Foundry's +2.0% less 0.27 points, so eliminations fall to 0.948 of Foundry revenue.
Intersegment eliminations

Latest: -$5.90B (2031Q2E)

Period Value
2024Q1 -$4.38B
2024Q2 -$4.28B
2024Q3 -$4.32B
2024Q4 -$4.31B
2025Q1 -$4.70B
2025Q2 -$4.42B
2025Q3 -$4.23B
2025Q4 -$4.34B
2026Q1 -$5.25B
2026Q2 -$5.48B
2026Q3E -$5.50B
2026Q4E -$5.53B
2027Q1E -$5.56B
2027Q2E -$5.58B
2027Q3E -$5.60B
2027Q4E -$5.63B
2028Q1E -$5.65B
2028Q2E -$5.67B
2028Q3E -$5.69B
2028Q4E -$5.71B
2029Q1E -$5.73B
2029Q2E -$5.75B
2029Q3E -$5.77B
2029Q4E -$5.79B
2030Q1E -$5.81B
2030Q2E -$5.83B
2030Q3E -$5.85B
2030Q4E -$5.86B
2031Q1E -$5.88B
2031Q2E -$5.90B

Assumptions & reasoning

  • The ratio of eliminations to Intel Foundry revenue sat near 1.00 through 2025 Q3 and has fallen to 0.950 as external foundry revenue ramped from $22M in 2025 Q2 to $293M in 2026 Q2.
  • The growth rate here is deliberately 0.27 points below Intel Foundry's in both the first and terminal quarter, which glides the ratio from 0.948 in 2026 Q3 to 0.901 by 2031 Q2 - the assumed terminal 0.90 - without an independent driver.
  • The EBITDA margin is negative on a negative revenue line and so contributes positive EBITDA: the disclosed $254M of eliminations operating income on $(5,477)M of eliminated revenue is (4.64)%.
  • Modelled as an independent growth line rather than as a coupled ratio, this vertical would silently break the consolidated revenue total by hundreds of millions a quarter.
Scenarios

Where each case comes from

Bull case — primary sources

The primary sources this case is built from — filings, calls and posts. Where they are claims by an interested party rather than disclosures, every number in the Bull column is what happens if they are taken at face value.

Valuation

From cash flow to fair value

Present value of free cash flow, 20 quarters-$23.17B
Terminal-year revenue$60.30B
Terminal-year EBITDA$20.92B
Exit multiple, on ebitda8.0x
Terminal value$167.37B
Discounted at 12.0% a year, terminal value becomes$94.97B
Enterprise value$71.80B
Net cash$1.81B
Equity value$73.61B
Shares5.29B
Fair value per share$13.93
Against the current price of $92.09-85%

A consolidated DCF with an EV/EBITDA exit, because Intel discloses no segment assets and no standalone Intel Foundry balance sheet, which rules out the sum-of-the-parts frame that a company with one profitable and one loss-making half would otherwise deserve. 10% discount rate for a capital-intensive cyclical manufacturer whose largest segment still loses money and whose balance sheet only just turned to net cash - $29.7B of cash and short-term investments against $50.5B of debt at 27 June 2026, then $22.62B of net proceeds from the August 2026 equity raise. 10x terminal EBITDA sits inside the 8-13x band this model treats as honest and above Intel's own pre-2021 trading history; no comparable multiple set has been sourced to a primary document, so the exit multiple is the number to argue with. On the base path it produces $36.62 a share against $88.24, and the whole of that gap is the multiple and the terminal margin: the market is paying about 15x the model's own 2031 EBITDA of $30.8B, today.

Read the other way round: at $92.09 the market is paying 42.8x terminal-year revenue, holding every other assumption on this page fixed. That is the number to argue about.

Capital programmes

Capex outside the verticals

Each vertical's capex is a share of its own revenue, which is the right shape for capacity that scales with sales. These are not that: fixed-size programmes with their own schedule that spend whether or not any segment grows. They are added on top, and they are why free cash flow dips in the years below.

2026 second-half tooling ramp

2026 Q3 → 2026 Q4
Programme total$13.60B
Cash out$6.80B/qtr

CFO David Zinsner on the 2026 Q2 call raised full-year 2026 capital expenditure to more than $20B, about $3B above the prior plan, with tooling up 40% on 2025. Against $6.2B of property additions in 2026 H1 that leaves roughly $13.6B across 2026 Q3 and Q4.

2027 U.S. network build

2027 Q1 → 2027 Q4
Programme total$26.00B
Cash out$6.50B/qtr

Zinsner guided 2027 capital expenditure 'significantly above the 2026 levels, with vast majority spent across U.S. network' and gave no figure. $26B is the assumed point inside the $24-30B band this model treats as the honest range; it is not guided.

2028-2029 Intel 14A capacity

2028 Q1 → 2029 Q4
Programme total$50.00B
Cash out$6.25B/qtr

Intel committed to completing 14A development in 2026 Q2 with high-volume ramp in 2028, and says the scale of expansion will be dictated by committed 14A demand. $25B a year across 2028 and 2029 is assumed, not disclosed.

2030-2031 node cadence and maintenance

2030 Q1 → 2031 Q2
Programme total$34.00B
Cash out$5.67B/qtr

An assumed step down to about $22.7B a year once the 14A build is absorbed, which is roughly 25% of projected revenue - below TSMC's intensity and above Intel's pre-2021 level. No company statement reaches this far.

Quarter by quarter

The projected path

Quarter Client Computing and Physical AIData Center and AIIntel FoundryAll OtherIntersegment eliminations Revenue YoY EBITDA Capex FCF R40 PV of FCF
2026 Q3E $8.80B$6.37B$5.81B$698M-$5.50B $16.17B +18% $4.21B $6.80B -$2.59B +2 -$2.52B
2026 Q4E $8.72B$6.47B$5.85B$695M-$5.53B $16.21B +19% $4.32B $6.80B -$2.48B +3 -$2.35B
2027 Q1E $7.96B$6.56B$5.90B$692M-$5.56B $15.55B +15% $4.33B $6.50B -$2.17B +1 -$2.00B
2027 Q2E $7.89B$6.65B$5.94B$690M-$5.58B $15.58B -3% $4.42B $6.50B -$2.08B -17 -$1.85B
2027 Q3E $7.83B$5.92B$5.98B$687M-$5.60B $14.81B -8% $4.32B $6.50B -$2.18B -23 -$1.89B
2027 Q4E $7.77B$5.98B$6.02B$684M-$5.63B $14.83B -9% $4.41B $6.50B -$2.09B -23 -$1.76B
2028 Q1E $7.71B$6.05B$6.06B$681M-$5.65B $14.85B -5% $4.49B $6.25B -$1.76B -16 -$1.44B
2028 Q2E $7.66B$6.11B$6.09B$678M-$5.67B $14.87B -5% $4.57B $6.25B -$1.68B -16 -$1.34B
2028 Q3E $7.60B$6.16B$6.13B$676M-$5.69B $14.88B +1% $4.65B $6.25B -$1.60B -10 -$1.24B
2028 Q4E $7.55B$6.22B$6.17B$673M-$5.71B $14.90B +0% $4.72B $6.25B -$1.53B -10 -$1.15B
2029 Q1E $7.50B$6.27B$6.21B$670M-$5.73B $14.92B +0% $4.79B $6.25B -$1.46B -9 -$1.07B
2029 Q2E $7.44B$6.33B$6.25B$667M-$5.75B $14.94B +0% $4.86B $6.25B -$1.39B -9 -$991M
2029 Q3E $7.39B$6.38B$6.29B$665M-$5.77B $14.96B +0% $4.92B $6.25B -$1.33B -8 -$919M
2029 Q4E $7.35B$6.43B$6.32B$662M-$5.79B $14.98B +1% $4.98B $6.25B -$1.27B -8 -$852M
2030 Q1E $7.30B$6.49B$6.36B$659M-$5.81B $15.00B +1% $5.04B $5.67B -$624M -4 -$408M
2030 Q2E $7.25B$6.54B$6.40B$656M-$5.83B $15.02B +1% $5.10B $5.67B -$568M -3 -$361M
2030 Q3E $7.20B$6.59B$6.44B$654M-$5.85B $15.04B +1% $5.15B $5.67B -$513M -3 -$317M
2030 Q4E $7.16B$6.64B$6.48B$651M-$5.86B $15.06B +1% $5.21B $5.67B -$461M -2 -$277M
2031 Q1E $7.11B$6.70B$6.51B$648M-$5.88B $15.09B +1% $5.26B $5.67B -$410M -2 -$239M
2031 Q2E $7.07B$6.75B$6.55B$646M-$5.90B $15.11B +1% $5.31B $5.67B -$361M -2 -$205M

Every row is projected. A year-over-year change is shown only where the quarter it compares against exists — an em dash means there is no comparable quarter, not a flat year.

Track record

Model revisions

Assumptions are marked to reality as each quarter prints. Every change is appended here, with the fair value the model produced at the time, so the model's own history stays visible.

DateChangedFair value thenNote
2026-08-27 all $36.62 First published model, built on the 2026 Q2 basis quarter from the verified research brief: ten quarters of five-line segment revenue that reconcile to reported consolidated revenue with zero residual, the guided 2026 Q3 range, and the pro-forma share count and net cash after the August 2026 equity raise.