New York, May 22, 2026, 06:03 (EDT)
- Intel drew attention before Friday’s Nasdaq open, with chip stocks up alongside U.S. equity futures.
- This comes after a sharp rebound earlier in the week that snapped a five-day losing streak.
- Intel’s foundry push is still the real test. Apple-related hopes have helped the stock, but the details around any key deals are still thin.
Intel shares looked ready for another active day Friday as traders went back into semiconductor stocks. U.S. futures ticked higher and chip names found some ground after recent swings. Reuters said Intel, AMD, Marvell and Broadcom rose between 0.9% and 3.2% ahead of the bell. Nasdaq 100 futures added 0.5%.
Intel shares closed at $118.50 on Thursday, finishing a choppy session, according to Yahoo Finance. That was down from $118.96 Wednesday. Barron’s said Intel jumped 7.4% Wednesday, snapping a five-day losing streak and stretching a rebound.
U.S. stocks were set for a normal session Friday, with Nasdaq open from 9:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. Eastern. Markets in the U.S. will be shut Monday for Memorial Day.
Intel’s rally keeps coming back to the same question for investors: is there real change in the business, or is this just people piling into AI-related infrastructure stocks? Demand for chips in data centers has jumped as companies rent out power to build and run AI models, driving up interest in anything with artificial intelligence exposure.
Intel (INTC) numbers for the first quarter landed on both sides of the debate. The chipmaker said revenue rose 7% from a year ago to $13.6 billion, but posted a GAAP net loss of $3.7 billion. For the second quarter, Intel expects revenue to come in between $13.8 billion and $14.8 billion.
Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan said in April the “next wave of AI” was driving up demand for Intel CPUs and its wafer and packaging products. CFO David Zinsner said it came down to “disciplined execution” and improved supply. Business Wire
Foundry is the second part of the trade. A foundry makes chips for other companies. Reuters said this month, citing the Wall Street Journal, that Intel has a preliminary agreement to make some chips for Apple devices. That could lift Intel’s contract manufacturing and help Washington’s push for more U.S. chip output. Intel and Apple didn’t comment.
That brings Intel into more direct competition with Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., the top foundry, and chipmakers Nvidia and AMD, who together are pushing advanced manufacturing to its limits. Reuters quoted SemiAnalysis President Doug O’Loughlin: “TSMC is the real bottleneck.” Seaport Research’s Jay Goldberg added, “No company in history has ever fallen off the Moore’s law curve and made it back on.” Moore’s law is the industry idea that chips get faster and cheaper about every two years. Reuters
Higher analyst targets are helping drive the move. Benjamin Reitzes at Melius Research upped his Intel target to $150 from $100 and kept a buy, TipRanks said. Benchmark’s Cody Acree also raised his target, going to $140 from $105, according to StockAnalysis.
Treasury yields pulled back on Friday, boosting growth stocks and the big tech names. Investors kept an eye on U.S.-Iran talks and oil supply risks. “Geopolitical risk has become less immediately damaging for sentiment,” said Naeem Aslam, chief investment officer at Zaye Capital Markets, to Reuters. But he also said the risk hadn’t gone away. Reuters
There’s still a clear risk. The Apple deal hasn’t revealed which chips Intel will make, which process they’ll use, or what kind of shipment numbers are involved. Reuters said J.P. Morgan analyst Harlan Sur thinks it will take at least a year to 18 months before investors can see how Intel is doing, and at least five years before it’s clear if the foundry unit will actually work and make money.
The stock goes into Friday with investors looking for evidence. Another move up probably needs signs that AI server CPU orders are steady, Intel is landing foundry business from serious buyers, and buyers keep showing up for chips ahead of the long holiday weekend.
