The Host CPU Is the Shortage Now, in a Bite

Intel grew data center revenue 78 percent last quarter and still ran short of processors to sell. The shortfall now comes with a schedule.

• Data Center and AI revenue was $7.3 billion, up 78 percent year on year and 17 percent sequentially, at 42 percent of revenue in operating profit.
• Intel expects industry server CPU units to grow more than 30 percent in 2026 and again in 2027.
• The CFO expects the industry to stay supply constrained through 2027 and into 2028.
• Advanced organic substrates for EMIB packaging are the pinch point, on top of Intel 3 wafer output.
• An extended shutdown at Fab 28 in Israel costs about $300 million of fourth quarter revenue, almost all of it 10nm server product.
• Clearwater Forest configurations scale past 46,000 cores per rack at roughly 133 kilowatts of rack power.

Host CPUs belong in the 2027 lead-time tracker next to memory and accelerators, not below them. Read the full analysis.