INTEL'S WARNING SPOOKS THE ENTIRE CHIP WORLD

Intel shares slumped 25% in premarket trading on October 30 after the chipmaker forecast a bleak quarter and warned that weakness in the personal computer market would persist through at least the first half of 2027.

The decline put Intel on track to lose more than $123 billion in market value and to open at its lowest level in about six months, if the losses held through the regular trading session.

Intel expects fourth-quarter revenue of $15 billion to $16 billion, below analysts' average estimate of $17.07 billion, according to data compiled by LSEG. Finance chief David Zinsner also said Intel does not expect positive cash flow this year.

The warning underscored the challenges facing chief executive Lip-Bu Tan's turnaround effort, with Intel still grappling with a prolonged PC market slump even as it invests heavily in artificial intelligence and manufacturing expansion.

The selloff spread quickly. Semiconductor stocks including Advanced Micro Devices, Arm Holdings, Qualcomm, Nvidia, Broadcom and Micron fell between 2% and 9% in premarket trading, while Europe's STOXX 600 Technology Index fell 2.1% and shares of chip equipment giant ASML shed 5.2%. A key pressure point is memory: higher memory prices, driven by suppliers shifting capacity toward AI-focused high-bandwidth memory chips, are raising PC costs and weighing on already weak consumer demand.