Intel Gets a YUGE “Trump Bump” in 1st Earnings Since $9 Billion MAGA Money Injection

Intel just dropped its first earnings report since Donnie Politics (read: your tax dollars) became its largest shareholder. And guess what? The old chip war horse is officially back in the race… even if it took $9 billion in government “therapy money” to get here.

The numbers weren’t half bad either: Revenue: $13.65 billion vs. $13.14B expected. Adjusted EPS: $0.23 (versus the $0.01 Wall Street guessed). And the stock got a nice bump too: +6% in extended trading, +87% YTD.

Again, this was a company that, two years ago, was spiritually chilling with Harambe, Sears, and Radio Shack in corporate heaven. But now after years in the Chip ICU, Intel’s back on its feet, throwing on a fresh coat of red, white, and blue paint, and yelling, “We’re back, baby!”

This was Intel’s first earnings call since the Trump administration negotiated an $8.9 billion “strategic partnership,” aka a 10% ownership stake in the company. Because Trump had an epiphany and came up with a new economic strategery: “If you can’t regulate it, own it.”

Intel even received $5.7 billion in cash from the feds this quarter. Their accountants immediately had an aneurysm. The company’s statement actually read: “There is limited precedent for the accounting treatment of such transactions,” Translation: We have no idea what the heck this is, but God bless America. So now, the SEC has to approve Intel’s math… but can’t, because it’s shut down. So yeah, Wall Street’s running on the honor system for now.

It didn’t hurt that Lip Bu Tan (Intel’s CEO) also scored $5 billion from Nvidia, its one-time arch nemesis. The two plan to integrate Intel’s CPUs with Nvidia’s GPUs… because when you can’t beat ‘em, rent your silicon to them.

(Source: Reuters)

And yes Jensen Huang now owns 4% of Intel. Between that and the government’s 10%, half of Intel’s board meetings probably feel like a United Nations summit with Jensen Huang and Trump on Zoom. I can picture it now: “So, let me ask you this,” (Trump squinting at his screen). “You make chips, Jensen makes chips… are they the same chips? Because if so, that seems like a terrific monopoly. I love monopolies, very efficient. We should have more of those.”

All jokes aside, Intel’s PC chip business is alive again… $8.5 billion in sales, up 3%. Data center CPUs slipped 1%, but hey, that’s better than the (wait for it) 40% nosedive of last year.

Speaking of comebacks, their net income hit $4.1 billion, compared to a $16.6 billion loss a year ago. So don’t ever let anyone tell you the Trump Bump isn’t real. The real elephant in the room, though, is Intel Foundry… the part of the business that’s supposed to make chips for other companies. It’s still getting cooked ($2.3 billion in operating losses), though that’s still an “improvement” from the $5.8B disaster last year.

The government’s eating it up, though… because Intel’s Arizona fabs have become America’s insurance policy against Taiwan. Washington’s not too fond of the idea that 90% of the world’s chips are made a short boat ride from China’s coastline.

Wall Street liked the beat but still side-eyed the guidance. Q4 outlook came in light ($13.3 billion revenue and $0.08 EPS expected) slightly below estimates.

But analysts say the broader turnaround story’s got legs. The layoffs, the belt-tightening, the shift toward AI integration… it’s all starting to click. As one analyst put it, “All eyes move to foundry.” If somehow Intel can turn that into a revenue generator instead of a revenue incinerator, then watch out.

At the time of publishing this article, Stocks.News holds positions in Intel as mentioned in the article.