New York, Feb 26, 2026, 11:41 ET — Regular session
- Intel shares slipped during late morning, with chip stocks across the board retreating.
- Investors kept an eye on a new AI inference partnership, while CPU rivalry continued to heat up.
- Next up: traders scanning for fresh guidance and demand clues across the sector.
Intel dropped 3.3% to $45.33 late morning in New York, paring back some of this week’s earlier gains and moving closer to the midpoint of its 52-week range.
Investors pulled back from semiconductors after Nvidia’s numbers landed without sparking fresh enthusiasm. Shares of the AI heavyweight slipped early, weighing on the main U.S. indexes.
The wave of selling at Intel came just two days after the company, alongside AI chip start-up SambaNova, detailed a planned multi-year partnership centered on Xeon processors, focusing on AI inference—using models in production rather than training. Intel Capital is also taking part in SambaNova’s Series E funding round.
The noise around this is only growing. Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang told analysts, “We love CPUs as well as GPUs,” pointing to AI “agent” tasks — things like code generation or document review — as fueling a shift toward more CPU-intensive computing. Creative Strategies’ Ben Bajarin noted those workloads now run “more and more, and sometimes primarily, on the CPU.” Dave Altavilla at HotTech Vision and Analysis added that Nvidia wants to challenge the idea that CPUs are still the default bedrock of modern compute infrastructure. Reuters
Intel finished Wednesday’s session up 1.65% at $46.88, ahead of several major chip rivals as the broader market moved higher. Still, trading volume lagged its 50-day average, according to MarketWatch data.
Thursday’s decline came after a two-day rally, with Intel again serving as a high-beta stand-in for sentiment swings around enterprise and data-center demand, some traders said.
Intel’s deal with SambaNova opens up more opportunities to sell its CPUs for AI projects, though the timing is tricky. Customers are pushing for better inference economics right away, yet the industry keeps hashing out who will dominate the rest of the AI server stack.
Bulls might worry these partnerships end up mostly slideware, not actual sales. Intel needs to prove it can deliver consistent demand and execution. Meanwhile, competitors continue broadening choices for customers.
What’s ahead? Traders are eyeing sector demand signals for signs of momentum, and all eyes will be on Intel’s upcoming earnings release on April 23. The focus: how revenue is shaping up in the near term, and what management says about the competitive landscape in data centers.
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