Intel reports Q4 revenue of $16.4B, up from $14.9B last year, as IoT revenue grew 16% YoY to $726M and non-volatile memory revenue grew 25% YoY to $816M
Dean Takahashi / VentureBeat :
Context & Ripple Effects
This quarter extends a pattern Intel's own management has been flagging since mid-2015, when the CEO credited IoT, memory, and data center as the growth engines behind a beat. The Q4 print makes the mix shift concrete: total revenue rose about 10% YoY to $16.4B, but the two smallest disclosed lines grew fastest — IoT up 16% to $726M and non-volatile memory up 25% to $816M.
The follow-through was immediate in the corpus: within months Intel was stressing its memory-chip business strength again in Q1 2017, and five years later the same IoT line had more than doubled to $1.1B, up 36% YoY, in the Q4 2021 report. Small today, but compounding well above the corporate average.
First-order effects
- Intel's growth is being carried disproportionately by its smallest units: IoT ($726M) and non-volatile memory ($816M) together are under 10% of revenue yet grew 16% and 25% respectively against ~10% for the company overall.
Second-order effects
- Sustained memory outperformance pressures Intel to keep investing in non-volatile memory capacity and product roadmaps, while rivals in flash storage face a competitor whose memory line is now growing fast enough to headline earnings commentary alongside PCs and data center.
Third-order effects
- If the pattern holds, Intel's revenue base gradually rebalances away from dependence on PC and server cycles toward embedded and memory businesses — a diversification visible in the corpus arc from $13.2B quarterly revenue in 2015 to $20.2B by early 2020, with IoT scaling from $726M to $1.1B along the way.
The trend: Intel's smallest segments — IoT and memory — are consistently outgrowing its core PC and data center businesses, slowly shifting the company's revenue mix toward embedded and storage silicon.