New York, Jan 24, 2026, 12:25 EST — Market closed.
- Intel slumped 17% on Friday, setting a cautious tone for chip stocks into the weekend.
- Nvidia gained while other big chip names such as Broadcom and Qualcomm ended lower.
- Investors now turn to the Fed decision on Jan. 28 and a midweek run of chip earnings.
Intel slid 17% to $45.07 on Friday, putting U.S. semiconductor stocks back on the defensive going into next week. “You have to actually put up the revenue growth to justify the run-up in stocks,” said Julian McManus, a portfolio manager at Janus Henderson. 1
The timing matters. About one-fifth of S&P 500 companies are due to report in the coming week, and investors widely expect the Federal Reserve to hold rates steady when it announces its policy decision on Wednesday. With the S&P 500 trading above 22 times expected earnings, “the earnings bar had better be met,” said Chris Galipeau, senior market strategist at Franklin Templeton. 2
Intel said it was caught short by demand for server central processors used alongside AI accelerators, and forecast first-quarter revenue of $11.7 billion to $12.7 billion versus analysts’ $12.51 billion estimate, according to LSEG data. Chief Executive Lip-Bu Tan told analysts he was “disappointed” Intel could not fully meet demand, while finance chief David Zinsner said cloud customers “were all a little bit caught off guard,” describing a rush to refresh data-center chips that pair with graphics processing units, or GPUs — chips that do much of the heavy lifting in AI training. 3
The rest of the large-cap chip group ended mixed on Friday. Nvidia rose 1.53% to $187.67, while Broadcom fell 1.67% to $320.05 and Qualcomm slipped 1.25% to $155.82. 4
AMD climbed 2.3% on Friday, extending a winning streak, as investors looked for beneficiaries if Intel’s data-center constraints linger. 5
One risk for chip bulls is that a tightening supply of memory components — the DRAM and NAND chips that sit alongside processors in PCs and servers — could squeeze margins and slow end demand, even if it lifts pricing for suppliers. Intel cited component shortages and higher memory costs, and Investopedia flagged Micron and other storage names as near-term winners if prices keep rising. 6
Earnings season now takes over for the sector’s next cues. Texas Instruments is set to webcast its fourth-quarter and full-year 2025 earnings call on Tuesday, Jan. 27, with CEO Haviv Ilan and CFO Rafael Lizardi slated to discuss results and take questions. 7
ASML, the top supplier of extreme ultraviolet lithography tools used to make leading-edge chips, will publish its fourth-quarter results on Wednesday, Jan. 28, and host a press conference and investor call led by CEO Christophe Fouquet and CFO Roger Dassen. 8
For semiconductor stocks, Monday’s open will show whether Intel’s drop triggers broader de-risking or stays contained to one name with a supply problem. The next hard catalysts are the Fed decision on Wednesday, Jan. 28, and results from Texas Instruments on Jan. 27 and ASML on Jan. 28.
