05:00 PM EDT, 07/23/2026 (MT Newswires) -- Intel ( INTC ) reported second-quarter results ahead of Wall Street's estimates late Thursday, with the strongest revenue growth in 15 years driven by a 59% surge in the data center and artificial intelligence unit.

The chipmaker reported adjusted earnings of $0.42 per share, compared with a loss of $0.10 a year earlier. Analysts polled by FactSet expected $0.22 in EPS. Revenue grew 25% to $16.13 billion, compared with the Street's $14.43 billion view.

"Our (second-quarter) results represent our strongest revenue growth in more than fifteen years, enabled by greater speed, accountability, and customer focus," Chief Executive Lip-Bu Tan said in a statement.

Sales for the data center and AI segment surged 59% to $6.26 billion in the second quarter, while client computing and physical AI group increased 13% to $8.88 billion. Revenue for the foundry business rose 31% to $5.77 billion.

"AI-driven compute continues to strengthen, and to support expected growth this year and next across products and foundry, we are meaningfully increasing our investments in equipment, clean room space, and substrates," Chief Financial Officer Dave Zinsner said.

Adjusted free cash flow moved deeper into negative territory, at $8.42 billion compared with a negative balance of $1.05 billion a year earlier.

Wedbush Securities projected Intel's ( INTC ) second-quarter results to top estimates due to server demand and rising prices. However, the brokerage cautioned market reaction could hinge more on broader sentiment than operational beats.

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing's ( TSM ) quarterly beat couldn't avert a sector-wide sell-off sparked by worries over China's advances in AI, global economic conditions and data center spending, Wedbush analysts Matt Bryson and Antoine Legault said in a report on Monday.

"And while Intel ( INTC ) may be better positioned to deal with at least one of these worries, with Intel's ( INTC ) valuation well above historical norms (and industry peers), we also believe it is arguably more susceptible to broader market swings [unlike say TSM or Nvidia ( NVDA ) ]," Bryson and Legault wrote.

For the third quarter, Intel ( INTC ) expects adjusted EPS of $0.38 on revenue of $15.8 billion to $16.8 billion. Analysts are looking for $0.27 and $15.08 billion, respectively.

The company's shares were up 9.3% in after-hours trading, and have gained 172% this year through Thursday close.