Intel Chief Financial Officer David Zinsner told Reuters the Kiryat Gat plant disruption could cut fourth-quarter revenue by about $300 million, with a similar hit expected in early 2027 as Intel forecast lower sales.
The two quarterly estimates imply a combined revenue impact of about $600 million. Zinsner also estimated the disruption would lower fourth-quarter gross margin by roughly 200 basis points. Intel had not determined how much of the affected wafer inventory could still be used.
Intel projected $15 billion to $16 billion in revenue for the fourth quarter of 2026, with non-GAAP gross margin of 38% and non-GAAP diluted earnings per share of 25 cents. Third-quarter revenue rose 21% year over year to $16.513 billion. Third-quarter non-GAAP diluted earnings per share were 52 cents, up from 23 cents a year earlier. At 5:05 p.m. EDT Oct. 29, shares were down 17.58% at $75.88 against a regular-session close of $92.07, StockAnalysis data showed. EconoTimes previously covered Intel’s fourth-quarter outlook and share reaction.
Consumer PC demand remained a separate pressure point. Revenue in Intel’s Client Computing and Physical AI Group fell 5% year over year to $8.097 billion in the third quarter, while Data Center and AI revenue advanced 78% to $7.318 billion. Intel said it expected the PC slowdown to continue through the first half of 2027; Zinsner told Reuters PC revenue could fall in the mid-20% range in the fourth quarter.
The explosion occurred Oct. 14. Two workers died and a third was seriously injured, The Times of Israel reported, citing Soroka Medical Center; the Israeli Prime Minister’s Office said the injured were taken to Soroka.
Zinsner told Reuters Intel aimed to start increasing output by the end of the week, after the facility had been offline for about two weeks. He gave no date for a full return to production.