**Intel Stock Surges on Positive Forecast Despite Q3 Losses**

Intel Corporation experienced a boost in its stock price, climbing as much as 12% after the release of its Q3 earnings report, which painted a mixed picture. Although the company beat revenue expectations, it fell short on earnings per share due to impairment charges.

For the third quarter, Intel reported a loss per share of $0.46 and revenue of $13.28 billion. Analysts had predicted a smaller loss per share of $0.03 on $13 billion in revenue. This is a notable decline from the previous year’s Q3 results, where Intel saw earnings of $0.41 per share and revenue of $14.1 billion.

Looking ahead to the fourth quarter, Intel anticipates revenue between $13.3 billion and $14.3 billion, surpassing Wall Street’s expectation of $13.6 billion. The company also revealed that it secured two new customers for its 18A process technology.

Intel’s Datacenter and AI unit showed robust performance, generating $3.35 billion in revenue, exceeding analysts' estimates of $3.1 billion. However, the Client Computing segment, responsible for laptop and desktop chips, fell slightly short, earning $7.3 billion against expectations of $7.4 billion. This is also down from $7.8 billion in the same period last year.

The company's Foundry business, which manufactures chips for both Intel and third-party clients, recorded Q3 revenue of $4.35 billion, just below Wall Street's forecast of $4.4 billion and down from $4.7 billion in Q3 2023. Intel has faced challenges following a Reuters report that highlighted issues in its 18A chip manufacturing process and the collapse of a potential deal with Waymo.

Yet, there was promising news. In September, Intel announced agreements to produce custom chips for Amazon Web Services. Additionally, Microsoft had already entered into a similar agreement. Despite these positives, Intel's Foundry services have had previous setbacks, including Broadcom evaluating but ultimately finding Intel's manufacturing processes lacking.

Intel's struggle amid a lengthy downturn in PC chip sales seems to be stabilizing, as sales start to pick up again, despite a slight dip in Q3 according to Gartner. The company also recently launched its second-generation Core Ultra chips, aimed at better handling AI tasks and improving battery life to compete with Qualcomm’s Arm-based chips.

Apple previously switched from Intel processors to its own Arm-based designs, achieving greater power efficiency and battery performance. Qualcomm's Snapdragon X Elite chips also offer superior battery life, but Intel’s new Core Ultra chips signify a move towards more competitive performance with lower energy consumption.

Intel’s Client business remains crucial, contributing the lion’s share of its revenue. Boosting sales in this segment could provide substantial benefits for the chipmaker as it continues to navigate a competitive landscape.