# A master plan or just CPUs? Intel might be making a comeback > Source: > Published: 2026-07-24 10:07:19+00:00 [Hardware](/tag/hardware/) Is it Lip-Bu Tan’s master strategy or just a byproduct of the CPU spike? Either way, Intel’s turnaround effort is working, with the company’s Q2 revenue exceeding expectations off the back of data centre chip success. Intel closed off the quarter with $16.1 billion in net revenue, a 25% increase year-on-year and more than $1 billion above the top end of its guidance for the period, with its data centre and AI business growing 59%. CEO Tan told an earnings call: “As AI expands from training to inference and increasingly to agentic and multi-agent systems, general-purpose server CPU density continues to increase, and our core server CPU franchise is growing faster than ever.” ## Get the full story: Subscribe for free Join peers managing over $100 billion in annual IT spend and subscribe to unlock full access to The Stack’s analysis and events. [Subscribe now](https://www.thestack.technology/membership/) Already a member? [Sign in](https://www.thestack.technology/signin/)