Intel Corp witnessed a major drop in shares on Thursday, October 21st as the company reported weaker-than-expected sales in the third quarter.This is largely due to the ongoing shortages of ancillary chips, which news previously reported could potentially stretch into 2023. This restrains sales of the company’s flagship processor chips needed to make computers. However, CEO Pat Gelsinger said that Intel plans to invest heavily in building new chip factories and expanding its foundry services business.This will lower margins for several years and capital outlays may well be $25-28 billion in 2022. Despite this, Intel said that it expects at least $74 billion in revenue in 2022, higher than analyst estimates of $73 billion.Following the news of CFO George Davis’ retirement effective May 2022, shares fell 8.8% in the extended trading session on October 21. Progressively, Intel’s earnings stood at $1.71 per share, up 59% year-over-year, and significantly beat analyst estimates of $1.11 per share.Intel said that gross margins on an operation level are likely to be between 51% and 53% in the next two to three years. This outcome will be below the 56.2% expectation from analysts for 2021. Based on the current economic environment and continued business momentum, Intel raised its full-year Fiscal 2021 earnings guidance to $5.28 per share. The company further projects Q4 adjusted revenue of about $18.3 billion.Commenting on the results, Pat Gelsinger said“We broke ground on new fabs, shared our accelerated path to regain process performance leadership, and unveiled our most dramatic architectural innovations in a decade. We also announced major customer wins across every part of our business.” He concluded “We are still in the early stages of our journey, but I see the enormous opportunity ahead, and I couldn’t be prouder of the progress we are making towards that opportunity.”Resources: https://www.investing.com/news/stock-market-news/intel-forecasts-currentquarter-revenue-above-estimates-2651628 https://www.tipranks.com/news/intel-delivers-mixed-q3-results-shares-fall-9-after-hours