NEW YORK, April 20, 2026, 11:36 EDT
- Intel dropped 3.5% Monday, giving back some gains after hitting $69.55 during Friday’s session—the stock’s highest intraday mark since 2000.
- First-quarter earnings land April 23 for the chipmaker, as investors watch for any signs that AI-driven demand for server CPUs is reaching more corners of the market.
- Google and Musk’s Terafab project have been key drivers in the rebound, though losses at the foundry and questions around manufacturing execution are still top concerns.
Intel was down 3.5% at $66.08 as of 11:20 a.m. EDT Monday, coming off Friday’s pop to $69.55—the highest intraday mark in over two decades. The drop lands just ahead of the chipmaker’s earnings set for April 23.
The timing is crucial: Intel right now serves as a real-world indicator of whether AI-related spending is spilling over from Nvidia’s GPUs to CPUs—the standard chips that actually handle the bulk of server operations. Morgan Stanley, in a Sunday note, said more autonomous forms of AI might change how data centers are designed, potentially steering more investment toward a broader set of chips, not just those that have led the surge.
The bank projects that agentic AI—software able to plan and execute tasks independently—might pump an extra $32.5 billion to $60 billion into the data-center CPU market by 2030, on top of the market’s current size above $100 billion. Intel, AMD, Nvidia and Arm stand out as the main names set to gain, according to the note.
Intel’s message has been clear to its customers. Earlier this month, Google committed to sticking with Xeon chips — including the Xeon 6 line — for both inference (where AI models respond to end users) and general-purpose computing. The company is also expanding its collaboration with Intel on custom infrastructure processing units, or IPUs, which are designed to offload certain tasks from traditional CPUs. “Scaling AI requires more than accelerators,” said Chief Executive Lip-Bu Tan. Reuters
Intel’s move to team up with Elon Musk’s Terafab initiative alongside Tesla and SpaceX jolted sentiment. For Tan, it’s nothing short of “a step change” in the manufacturing of logic, memory, and packaging. D.A. Davidson’s Gil Luria viewed the agreement as an “important step,” arguing Intel had to prove its ability to handle demanding projects for major clients. Reuters
Intel is looking to regain ground on previously sold assets. The chipmaker announced April 1 it’s putting $14.2 billion toward buying out Apollo Global Management’s 49% share in its Ireland facility, the site responsible for producing Xeon server chips. “A stronger balance sheet” and “improved financial discipline,” as Chief Financial Officer David Zinsner put it. Reuters
Still, the warning signs are hard to ignore. Intel Foundry, the company’s contract chip business, posted a $10.32 billion loss in 2025 despite a 3% uptick in revenue. Securing outside clients for its 18A manufacturing process—and proving it can help boost margins—remains unfinished business.
Intel’s January guidance laid bare the pressure. The company admitted it hadn’t anticipated the surge in AI-driven data-center demand, and projected first-quarter revenue in a range of $11.7 billion to $12.7 billion. It told investors adjusted earnings would just break even. The challenge? Trying to keep up production of higher-margin server chips.
No sign of relief on the competitive front. Nvidia continues to dominate AI accelerators, while AMD and Arm keep chipping away at CPU market share. TSMC, for its part, upped its 2026 revenue outlook just last week and called AI demand “extremely robust” after boosting capex. Reuters
Thursday now shapes up as a moment of truth on both demand and execution. Intel’s shares surged 84% in 2025, clawing back after a plunge of over 60% in 2024, and hitting price levels last seen around 2000 just last week. Clearly, there’s a lot of optimism priced in already; any stumble—whether on margins, supply, or foundry momentum—could snap the rally.
