Intel Shows Signs of Revival on AI Demand as PC Market Stalls

U.S. chipmaker Intel is facing two challenges at once: slowing growth in the PC market and a surge in demand for semiconductors for AI. Intel President Makoto Ohno said the company's biggest management challenge is 'transformation.' He noted that its manufacturing technology has become outdated over roughly half a century, and that growth in the PC market, its core battlefield, is also stalling.

Intel has been pushing transformation and overhauled its management since Lip-Bu Tan became CEO in 2025. The number of vice presidents was cut from about 450 to about 200. On the technology side, Intel developed the 2nm-class process Intel 18A, considered the current leading edge, and has been mass-producing CPUs using it since late 2025. Ohno explained that finer circuits improve both performance and power efficiency, both essential for AI processing.

Intel's stock rose about sixfold from June 2025 to June 2026. The rapid growth of the semiconductor market has been driven by the AI boom. At a 2025 conference, Ohno said the semiconductor market would exceed $1 trillion by 2030, but stated in 2026 that it had 'actually already surpassed that this year.' Still, producing chips that keep pace with AI is not easy: manufacturing processes are becoming more complex, and factories are consuming more electricity and water.

AI progress is also said to be running about five times faster than Moore's Law, the empirical rule that transistor density doubles roughly every two years. Ohno called this situation the 'semiconductor cliff,' saying power, cost, talent and geopolitical risk will become bottlenecks. Usage patterns are also shifting: as demand for advanced multi-step reasoning grows, cloud-side GPUs alone can no longer cover the load. Processing AI partly at the edge, in PCs and industrial machines, is drawing attention. Intel has released 'Intel SuperClaw,' an agentic AI that divides work between cloud and edge.

Chips such as Intel's CPUs and NPUs (Neural Processing Units) are key to this edge processing. Intel is also teaming up with Hitachi to develop next-generation semiconductor factories. The article reports on a talk at the Hitachi Social Innovation Forum 2026 JAPAN, held September 3–4, 2026.

U.S. chipmaker Intel is facing two challenges at once: slowing growth in the PC market and a surge in demand for semiconductors for AI. Intel President Makoto Ohno said the company's biggest management challenge is 'transformation.' He noted that its manufacturing technology has become outdated over roughly half a century, and that growth in the PC market, its core battlefield, is also stalling.

Intel has been pushing transformation and overhauled its management since Lip-Bu Tan became CEO in 2025. The number of vice presidents was cut from about 450 to about 200. On the technology side, Intel developed the 2nm-class process Intel 18A, considered the current leading edge, and has been mass-producing CPUs using it since late 2025. Ohno explained that finer circuits improve both performance and power efficiency, both essential for AI processing.

Intel's stock rose about sixfold from June 2025 to June 2026. The rapid growth of the semiconductor market has been driven by the AI boom. At a 2025 conference, Ohno said the semiconductor market would exceed $1 trillion by 2030, but stated in 2026 that it had 'actually already surpassed that this year.' Still, producing chips that keep pace with AI is not easy: manufacturing processes are becoming more complex, and factories are consuming more electricity and water.

AI progress is also said to be running about five times faster than Moore's Law, the empirical rule that transistor density doubles roughly every two years. Ohno called this situation the 'semiconductor cliff,' saying power, cost, talent and geopolitical risk will become bottlenecks. Usage patterns are also shifting: as demand for advanced multi-step reasoning grows, cloud-side GPUs alone can no longer cover the load. Processing AI partly at the edge, in PCs and industrial machines, is drawing attention. Intel has released 'Intel SuperClaw,' an agentic AI that divides work between cloud and edge.

Chips such as Intel's CPUs and NPUs (Neural Processing Units) are key to this edge processing. Intel is also teaming up with Hitachi to develop next-generation semiconductor factories. The article reports on a talk at the Hitachi Social Innovation Forum 2026 JAPAN, held September 3–4, 2026.