NEW YORK, January 9, 2026, 10:49 EST
- Intel shares were up about 8% in morning trade, with the stock hovering near its intraday high.
- On Wall Street, the buzz has been about AI PCs, possible CPU tightness and the company’s push into contract chipmaking.
- Some analysts say the rally may be getting ahead of earnings, with Intel’s results due later this month.
Intel shares rose again Friday, stretching a steep run this week as traders latched onto new catalysts around artificial intelligence PCs and the company’s drive to manufacture chips for outside customers.
That stock swing matters. Intel has sat through much of the AI boom while rivals took the spotlight — and the money. The company will report fourth-quarter and full-year results on Jan. 22, which investors now view as the next read on whether that optimism actually lands in revenue and margins. 1
Intel has been trying to reframe the story around “AI PCs” and its foundry business, where it makes chips for other designers. At CES, it rolled out Core Ultra Series 3 processors built on “18A,” its next-generation manufacturing process, and executive Jim Johnson said the company was “laser focused” on power efficiency and x86 software compatibility — x86 is the processor architecture used in most PCs. 2
A MarketWatch report pointed to online chatter about tight supply and possible server CPU price hikes, though Mizuho trading-desk analyst Jordan Klein waved off much of it as “noise.” D.A. Davidson analyst Gil Luria said the move looked like investors “rushing into” “more marginal players.” Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan, meanwhile, flagged “momentum on 14A,” another future manufacturing process, with the foundry debate heating up. 3
The Motley Fool cited Intel’s Core Ultra Series 3 launch and a bullish note from Melius Research analyst Ben Reitzes, who said Intel could land foundry orders from chip designers such as Nvidia and Apple in coming years. It also highlighted a TechCrunch report saying Intel is developing a dedicated chip for handheld gaming devices, an area where AMD has been strong. 4
But not everyone is buying the rally. A Seeking Alpha columnist using the name “The Techie” said Intel’s near-term earnings power is still unproven, and pointed to valuation gauges including a trailing price-to-earnings ratio — how much investors pay for a dollar of earnings — of about 125 and a forward EV/EBIT multiple — a value-to-operating-profit yardstick — near 94. 5
Intel’s CES press materials said Core Ultra Series 3 laptops will start going on sale on Jan. 27 via retailers and PC makers’ storefronts, giving investors another near-term read on demand beyond the stock market. 6
Right now, Intel’s foundry momentum is what investors are keying on — the swing factor between a quick trade and a longer rerating. The worry: customer wins may take longer to land, the AI PC cycle could stay choppy, or the Jan. 22 results could puncture the fresh enthusiasm.
