New York, Jan 9, 2026, 11:16 EST — Regular session
Intel shares rose about 6% on Friday, lifting the stock toward its best levels of the week, after fresh attention on the chipmaker followed President Donald Trump’s comments about a meeting with CEO Lip-Bu Tan. The shares were up 6.1% at $43.62 in late-morning trade.
The move matters because Intel’s stock has turned into a fast read on whether the company can prove it is back on track in manufacturing — the hard part of its turnaround — at a time when U.S. industrial policy and big capital spending are back in the frame.
Investors also have a fixed date on the calendar now. Intel said it will report fourth-quarter and full-year results on Jan. 22, after the market close, with an earnings call set for 2 p.m. PT (5 p.m. ET).
Wall Street’s main indexes edged higher after a weaker-than-expected U.S. jobs report kept bets on rate cuts alive, and Intel got an extra push after Trump said he had a “great meeting” with Tan. “However, the picture remains far from clear,” Seema Shah, chief global strategist at Principal Asset Management, said of the labour data. Reuters
On the company side, Intel has been leaning hard into its CES messaging around new laptop chips. In a Jan. 8 post tied to the show, Intel said it launched its Core Ultra Series 3 processors and lined up more than 200 laptop designs, with pre-orders starting this week; one early customer, Positivo Tecnologia, called the rollout “a new chapter in technology together.” Newsroom
Intel says the first Series 3 laptops go on sale on Jan. 27. The chips are built on Intel’s “18A” process — a manufacturing “node,” or technology generation — that investors see as a key test of whether Intel can close the gap with top foundries and keep more advanced production in-house. Newsroom
Semiconductors broadly were firmer, with the iShares Semiconductor ETF up about 2.4%, while Nvidia was little changed and AMD was up nearly 0.8%.
But the bid in Intel can turn quickly. Any stumble in the 18A ramp, weaker PC demand than expected, or a cautious tone on margins and spending could test how much optimism is already in the price, especially after a sharp run in a stock that has been headline-driven.
Next up for the market is a run of macro tests, including U.S. CPI for December due Jan. 13 and the Federal Reserve’s Jan. 27–28 policy meeting. For Intel, the hard catalyst is still Jan. 22 — results, guidance and whatever Tan says about execution.
