NEW YORK, Jan 8, 2026, 08:58 EST — Premarket
Intel (INTC.O) shares rose 6.4% to $42.63 in premarket trading on Thursday, after ending Wednesday at $40.06. Chip stocks were mixed, with Nvidia (NVDA.O) up about 1% while AMD (AMD.O) and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing’s U.S. shares slid around 2%.
The move matters because Intel’s comeback hinges on 18A, its next-generation chipmaking process. It is a step in the company’s push to rebuild its factory edge and expand “foundry” work — making chips for other firms, not just itself.
Investors have started to treat Intel stock as a vote on whether that factory plan is turning into volume output, not just slide decks. PC chips are part of it, but so are costs: how fast Intel can ramp, and how much it burns to get there.
At a CES event in Las Vegas this week, Chief Executive Lip-Bu Tan said Intel had “met our commitment to deliver the first 18A products by the end of 2025” and was ramping production of Core Ultra Series 3 packages. Jim Johnson, a senior vice president in Intel’s client group, said 18A lets engineers “precisely control the electrical current,” a change the company is pitching as central to better power use in laptops. 1
Intel on Thursday published new details around the early wave of Series 3 laptops, saying it showed about two dozen “AI PC” models from 15 PC makers at CES and that pre-orders for the first consumer systems begin this week, with more than 200 designs due later this year. “We are so excited to partner with Intel on the launch of Series 3,” Positivo Tecnologia President Hélio Bruck Rotenberg said. 2
Wall Street has also leaned into the backstop story around Intel, especially when the stock catches momentum. “Nvidia’s a great shareholder. They’re going to help them. The Trump administration’s going to help them,” Melius Research’s Ben Reitzes told CNBC on Wednesday, according to Investopedia. 3
The premarket rise in Intel came even as U.S. stock futures dipped ahead of Friday’s nonfarm payrolls report, a read that can move rate expectations and big-tech valuations in a hurry. 4
Intel, for its part, set the next hard catalyst on Wednesday, saying it will report fourth-quarter and full-year 2025 results on Jan. 22 after the market close, with a conference call scheduled for 2 p.m. Pacific time. 5
But the rally leaves little room for a stumble. Any sign the 18A ramp is slower than expected, or that costs and pricing pressure swamp the near-term benefits, could sour sentiment fast — especially with AMD still pressing hard in PCs and data centers.
