Another kitchen sink type of earnings day from chip giant Intel (INTC).

Intel shares rose nearly 7% in after-market trading on Thursday as the struggling US icon managed to serve up better than expected fourth quarter guidance.

“This was a critical quarter for us and I think gives optimism for what is to come,” Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger told Yahoo Finance moments after the company’s earnings call ended (video above).

But the initial market reaction may be a tad overdone when digging into the quarterly results.

Intel revealed $15.9 billion in total non-cash charges related to inventory write-downs and lower performance expectations for certain businesses, such as autonomous driving firm Mobileye (MBLY), where it owns a majority stake. The company reported a $5.8 billion operating loss at Intel Foundry — Intel’s upstart chipmaking business — on $4.4 billion in sales.

Intel took a cautious stance on the health of the foundry business in 2025. On the earnings call, management promised to continue executing on a $10 billion cost-cutting plan, as well as exploring alternative sources of funding to support chipmaking ambitions.

Gelsinger told Yahoo Finance no deal is imminent in terms of external funding.

He reiterated that Intel will push forward opening chipmaking plants in states like Ohio and Arizona despite not receiving billions of dollars in funding yet from the CHIPS Act.

The Biden administration has earmarked $8.5 billion in direct funding to Intel for its projects, but the company is still awaiting the cash as government officials iron out milestones that it must hit.

“Overall, we are seeing the CHIPS Act as a critical thing that we’ve invested a lot of time and energy into, and as we said on our earnings call, we’re disappointed by the time that it’s taken to get done,” Gelsinger said.

“It’s well over two years since the CHIPS Act passed. And over that period, I’ve invested $30 billion in US manufacturing and we’ve seen $0 from the CHIPS Act. This has taken too long, we need to get it finished.”

To be sure, Wall Street still sees a bumpy road ahead for Intel.

Intel faces an “uphill battle” to turn itself around and compete with the likes of Nvidia (NVDA), AMD (AMD), and Taiwan’s TSMC (TSM), Goldman Sachs analyst Toshiya Hari recently told Yahoo Finance.

He adds the company will need some time to get its technology — notably AI chips — on par with its rivals, if they can do it at all.

And BofA analyst Vivek Arya struck a cautious tone on Intel in a new episode of the Opening Bid podcast (listen in here).

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