This time, we might not have even hit backside but — Revenue fell greater than 100% on an unadjusted foundation within the fourth quarter, as income dove 32%. Executives had been too involved about ongoing murkiness forward to supply a forecast past the primary quarter, however the forecast they did present was even grimmer than their results, calling for a income decline of roughly 40% and adjusted losses.

Intel shares tumbled practically 10% in after-hours buying and selling, which was not an overreaction, and neither is the comparability to the dot-com-bust period. In 2001, Intel rival Superior Micro Gadgets Inc.
AMD,
+0.33%
was starting to make headway with its first foray into servers simply as personal-computer gross sales slowed. Now, historical past appears to be repeating itself, with Intel seeing fierce competitors from AMD within the extremely worthwhile knowledge middle area and affected by the most important decline in PC shipments on file.

Beforehand from Therese: Which CEO is to blame for Intel’s current woes?

“It’s astonishing,” Bernstein Research analyst Stacy Rasgon told CNBC on Thursday, in an interview the place his astonishment at such a poor report was bared for all to see.

Rasgon was most agog on the firm’s revenue margin of 39.2% within the quarter, which he stated would have been three factors decrease if Intel had not made an accounting change to increase the depreciation of sure equipment and gear by three years. He additionally speculated that Intel’s points within the knowledge middle market are both stemming from pricing or yield points with new chips.

Intel is making an attempt to maneuver its data-center clients to the lengthy delayed and not too long ago launched Sapphire Rapids chips, which have a dearer new reminiscence requirement, so it’s possible it has been discounting older data-center chips. The information-center phase’s working revenue fell to $371 million, a fraction of the $2.3 billion in gross sales a yr in the past.

In-depth: How did Intel lose its Silicon Valley crown?

Chief Government Pat Gelsinger informed analysts on the corporate’s name that the ramp for Sapphire Rapids had gotten “nice response” from clients to date.

“This yr shall be very a lot about ramping that and we’ll see the enhancements in each market share place in addition to ASPs [average selling prices], as we ramp that product by means of the yr,” he stated.

However that was actually as shut as Gelsinger obtained to providing a lot optimism for the yr forward. Executives had been detest to make any predictions past the primary quarter, which he predicted to incorporate “essentially the most important stock decline at our clients that we’ve seen in current historical past,” which isn’t factor — as clients deplete all their chips available for manufacturing, they’re slower to order new chips.

Gelsinger did attempt to paint a brighter image six months down the road, noting that Intel is making progress reducing its working prices and that the second half of the yr issues ought to begin to enhance.

“Restoration within the second-half of the yr is what we anticipate general,” Gelsinger stated.

Deep Dive: Intel stock’s dividend sticks out among chip makers. But a cut may be coming.

Even that’s arduous to consider, although, after Intel’s optimistic 2022 forecast was repeatedly lower within the second half of the yr, persevering with a sample of failure in that division. The PC market doesn’t look able to reverse from its present downfall, and AMD’s new server chips should have a bonus on Intel’s long-delayed new product, so a turnaround doesn’t seem imminent.

Gelsinger returned to helm an already sinking ship, however he to date has did not get it again on prime of the water, and is now utilizing accounting methods simply to minimize the blow. As he lays off staff with a view to keep an outsize dividend that Intel can no longer afford, buyers must surprise if its price happening together with his ship. It might take longer than they anticipate to get better.

Full earnings protection: Intel stock drops nearly 10% after earnings miss, execs predict quarterly loss as data-center market shrinks