New York, May 31, 2026, 06:22 (EDT)
- Intel dropped 4.3% to close at $114.68 for the holiday-shortened week. That move came while the Nasdaq and S&P 500 both logged gains for the week.
- Intel’s push into advanced packaging, word of a new India substrate facility, and plans to take on Nvidia in Windows PCs are driving fresh news this week.
- Next up for markets: U.S. jobs data, Broadcom’s earnings, and new Windows PCs with Nvidia chips set to be unveiled next week.
Intel stock goes into June as traders weigh if last week’s drop was simple profit-taking or a sign of trouble for what’s been one of the bigger chip rallies of 2026.
The stock finished Friday at $114.68, falling 5.1% on the session and off 4.3% from its May 22 close at $119.84, market data show. The slide landed in a four-day week after the U.S. market was closed for Memorial Day. Nasdaq sticks to its standard hours, trading Monday through Friday from 9:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. Eastern.
Intel’s role is getting attention as traders look for signals on AI infrastructure demand outside of Nvidia. Tech stocks lifted Wall Street to all-time closing highs Friday, with the Nasdaq up 2.39% for the week, according to Reuters. But Intel lagged behind.
PCs are a battleground. Nvidia and Microsoft are expected to launch the first Windows PCs powered by Nvidia chips as the main processor next week, according to Axios, reported by Reuters. Intel and AMD are still the main suppliers of CPUs for Windows laptops, Reuters said.
Intel faces an uneasy week. Nvidia and Arm launching Windows systems could mean more trouble for Intel’s client-computing business, at a time when investors have driven up Intel shares betting that wider AI adoption will need more CPUs as the shift goes from training to daily operation.
Intel got some new backing for its manufacturing push. The company and 3DGS Inc. USA are planning to spend around $3.3 billion on a substrate facility in India’s Odisha state, according to the Indian government Friday. The plant, which will make the base material for semiconductor devices, is expected to be built over the next five to six years, Reuters said.
MediaTek gave another update out of Taiwan, saying it backs both TSMC’s CoWoS and Intel’s EMIB advanced packaging tech, so its customers can pick from either option. Advanced packaging links chips together for faster, more efficient performance. “We’re one of the few custom silicon providers that support both,” said MediaTek Senior Vice President Vince Hu. Reuters
Intel is sticking with its demand story. In April, the company guided for Q2 revenue between $13.8 billion and $14.8 billion and non-GAAP EPS of 20 cents. CEO Lip-Bu Tan said, “the next wave of AI will bring intelligence closer to the end user,” which he said will drive more demand for Intel’s CPUs, wafer, and advanced packaging products. intc.com
Analysts aren’t convinced the turnaround is done. “TSMC is the real bottleneck,” Doug O’Loughlin, president of SemiAnalysis, told Reuters earlier this month, pointing to why chip designers want other options. Seaport Research’s Jay Goldberg put it this way: “No company in history has ever fallen off the Moore’s law curve and made it back on,” he said, referring to the rule that chips get faster and cheaper every couple of years. Reuters
Broader market risk is in view this week. Investors are looking at the May U.S. nonfarm payrolls release on June 5, with Reuters saying forecasts call for 85,000 jobs. Broadcom’s numbers are coming too and will test recent AI momentum. A strong jobs report could push bond yields higher and put pressure on the Fed to hold rates steady for longer.
The catch is execution. Nvidia’s Windows PC push has to work. If Intel’s 18A and packaging ramp gets pushed back, or if customers stick with TSMC for top-end production, the stock’s valuation doesn’t give it much slack. Intel delivered on the news flow investors wanted, but now the company has to show it can turn that into capacity, customers, and margins.
