NEW YORK, Feb 3, 2026, 14:25 EST
Key points
- Daiwa raised Intel’s price target to $50 from $41; MarketBeat data shows a “Reduce” consensus rating and an average target of $45.76.
- CEO Lip-Bu Tan said Intel plans to build GPUs and cited customer interest in Intel Foundry’s 14A process.
- SoftBank unit SAIMEMORY said it signed a Feb. 2 deal with Intel on “Z-Angle Memory,” targeting prototypes by the fiscal year ending March 31, 2028.
Daiwa Capital Markets raised its price target on Intel to $50 from $41 on Tuesday. Price targets are analysts’ estimates of where a stock may trade over the next year. MarketBeat data showed the average target price for Intel at $45.76, and the consensus recommendation at “Reduce.” MarketBeat
Chief Executive Lip-Bu Tan said the company plans to build graphics processing units, or GPUs, chips used to train and run AI systems, in a market popularized by Nvidia. “It’s tied in with the data center,” Tan told Reuters at the Cisco AI Summit, after hiring former Qualcomm executive Eric Demmers as chief GPU architect and naming Kevork Kechichian to oversee the push. He said “a couple of customers are engaging heavily” with Intel Foundry and that volume production around its 14A manufacturing technology could ramp later this year. Reuters
In a separate announcement, Tokyo-based SAIMEMORY, a wholly owned unit of SoftBank Corp., said it signed an agreement with Intel on Feb. 2 to advance “Z-Angle Memory,” a next-generation memory technology. The companies said they aim to make prototypes in the fiscal year ending March 31, 2028, and target commercialization in fiscal 2029. The release described a shift from AI training to inference — the operational phase where models run in production — that requires moving large volumes of data to GPUs and favors high-capacity, high-bandwidth memory with lower power use. MarketScreener
Data compiled by Fintel and published on Nasdaq showed the average one-year price target for Intel was revised to $46.77, up 22.1% from the prior estimate on Jan. 11. Analyst targets range from $20.60 to $75.08, the data showed. The average target is about 4% below the stock’s last reported close of $48.81.
Intel shares were down 0.6% at $48.51 in afternoon New York trading, after earlier hitting $51.46. Advanced Micro Devices and Nvidia were also lower as chip stocks slid.
Daiwa’s new target leaves little gap from where Intel is already trading, a reminder that upgrades do not always signal big upside. For Intel, the calls arrive while the company tries to land AI customers and fix manufacturing execution in the same breath.
Nvidia’s GPUs have become the default chips for building and running large AI models, while AMD is pushing deeper into the same market. On the manufacturing side, Intel wants to sell foundry capacity in competition with Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co, which makes chips for many of the world’s top designers.
Not everyone on Wall Street is buying the story. Bernstein analyst Stacy A. Rasgon maintained a neutral rating with a $36 target price in a note carried by MarketScreener on Jan. 28.
The next test is less about slogans and more about deliveries: how quickly Intel can turn GPU plans and foundry interest into signed, repeat business. If progress disappoints, analysts can revisit their targets just as quickly.
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