NEW YORK, March 2, 2026, 18:14 EST — After-hours trading
- Intel slipped 0.3% in after-hours trading, hanging around $45.50.
- Ericsson and Intel rolled out a joint effort targeting “AI-native 6G” at Mobile World Congress.
- Intel’s set to appear at a conference March 4, catching investors’ eyes this week, while the U.S. jobs data lands Friday.
Intel Corp shares slipped roughly 0.3% after hours on Monday, changing hands at $45.50. The stock moved between $44.87 and $45.66 during the session. Market cap hovered around $155.4 billion.
The chipmaker made the shift while doubling down on telecom and networking, rolling out new work with Ericsson focused on what the two are billing as “AI-native 6G.” It’s the next mobile standard, still early days for now.
Intel isn’t chasing phones here—the real target is servers and network chips. Carriers moving network tasks to standard data center hardware could mean more processor sales for Intel. There’s also a shot at picking up manufacturing contracts, as partners look to secure supply.
Stocks are on edge as a packed week of data and earnings approaches. Investors are zoning in on Friday’s February U.S. jobs report, watching for any signals on where interest rates might be headed next. For chip stocks, these rate moves hit hard—they directly impact how much future growth is worth.
Ericsson and Intel are teaming up on a broad front—compute, connectivity, and cloud tech—pushing into the radio access network (RAN), as well as the core and edge. Ericsson’s Börje Ekholm says 6G will “distribute AI across devices, the edge and the cloud.” Intel’s Lip-Bu Tan highlights efforts to “unify RAN, Core and edge AI.” ericsson.com
Intel dropped the news just as Mobile World Congress kicked off in Barcelona. The chipmaker is there highlighting network and edge computing demos featuring its Xeon 6 series, plus what it calls a “path to 6G,” according to company materials from MWC. Newsroom
Cloud RAN is in focus for both companies, moving certain radio functions off traditional telecom hardware and into software hosted on servers. Operators can save money with this setup, but the demands on power and performance go up. That’s fueling competition among chip suppliers, each aiming to secure design commitments ahead of rivals.
Even so, talk of bold 6G plans isn’t new to investors. Actual commercial launches remain distant, standards may evolve, and in practice, how much carriers spend usually depends more on the bigger economic picture than on what’s shown off in test labs.
Intel’s on the docket for the Morgan Stanley Technology, Media & Telecom Conference on March 4. This event typically draws traders looking for any hints in the company’s messaging around demand, pricing, or execution.
Looking ahead, traders are eyeing Friday’s U.S. Employment Situation report for February, set for 8:30 a.m. ET—a data point with the heft to shift rate bets and move semiconductor names.
