WASHINGTON, April 15, 2026, 08:21 EDT
Intel Corp is once again on the hook in a long-running patent dispute, after a U.S. appeals court decided to revive VLSI Technology’s case. The move reopens a chunk of litigation that’s already led to jury awards of $2.2 billion and $949 million. The Federal Circuit tossed out a 2024 California ruling—one that had favored Intel—and ordered a new jury trial. VLSI’s CEO, Scott Bain, said the company was pleased. Intel had no immediate comment.
The timing’s not ideal. After falling 2.1% on Tuesday, shares closed at $63.81. But even with that dip, they’re still up roughly 44% in April—marking the best monthly run since 1987, Barron’s points out. Intel will deliver its first-quarter report on April 23.
The mood flipped after the AI conversation started to change. Last week, Intel and Google announced they’re expanding their collaboration around Xeon processors and custom IPUs—infrastructure processing units built to offload tasks from CPUs—as AI shifts focus to inference, where models actually respond to queries. Chief Executive Lip-Bu Tan put it bluntly: it’s not all about accelerator chips; “balanced systems” are key. Reuters
That’s pulled traditional CPU manufacturers back into focus. Nvidia hasn’t lost its edge in chips for training big AI models, but as AI players spin up more agents—software handling complex, multi-step jobs—the landscape is shifting. Creative Strategies analyst Ben Bajarin points out that this type of work is running “more and more” on the CPU. Reuters
Intel wasted no time capitalizing on the shift, landing a spot last week in Elon Musk’s Terafab initiative with Tesla and SpaceX. D.A. Davidson’s Gil Luria called it an “important step” for the chipmaker, which still had to show it could handle mission-critical work for marquee clients. Yet, the win comes with Intel Foundry—its contract manufacturing unit—logging a $10.32 billion operating loss in 2025. Reuters
Intel has moved to consolidate control over its manufacturing footprint. According to an April 8 SEC filing, the company wrapped up a $14.2 billion buyout of Apollo-managed funds’ 49% interest in the Fab 34 joint venture in Ireland. The deal relied on cash and a $6.5 billion bridge loan—short-term financing that Intel intends to replace. Earlier this month, CFO David Zinsner pointed to a “stronger balance sheet” and “improved financial discipline.” SEC
No let-up in the broader contest: AMD continues to chip away at Intel’s core server business, Reuters reported back in February, pointing to UBS data. TSMC, still out front as the top global producer of advanced AI chips, isn’t giving up ground on leading-edge manufacturing.
Still, the turnaround story has its cracks. Back in March, Zinsner noted Tan was second-guessing just how widely Intel should offer its 18A manufacturing process to external clients. Barron’s pointed out today that 34 out of 50 analysts keep the stock at Hold, even with April’s jump. The stakes for the next report? If anything, they’re higher now.
