New York, June 17, 2026, 19:03 EDT
- Intel shares gained 3.5% to $121.10 after the company’s 18A-P manufacturing process entered risk production.
- Bernstein lifted its Intel price target to $100 from $65 but stuck with its neutral rating, citing improved server CPU demand.
- The stock action keeps the focus on Intel Foundry. The unit is posting more revenue but remains unprofitable.
Intel jumped 3.5% to $121.10 late Wednesday in U.S. trading after the company hit a new manufacturing milestone and analysts took another look at server chip demand. Shares moved between $118.13 and $125.11. Volume was more than 114 million shares.
Intel is aiming to show its foundry business can land outside customers as CPU demand picks up. The company said its 18A-P process is now in risk production, meaning it’s making a limited run to check performance, spot defects and test for consistency before ramping up volumes.
Intel said at the VLSI Symposium that its 18A-P process gives a 9% boost in performance at the same power, or can lower power use by 18% at the same speed, versus 18A. Naga Chandrasekaran, executive vice president and general manager at Intel Foundry, described the update as “a journey” and said there is “more work ahead.” Intel
Bernstein’s Stacy Rasgon upped his price target on Intel to $100 from $65, but stuck with a Market Perform rating. Rasgon said Intel is seeing stronger server CPU demand but said the company was “caught significantly off-guard” by the surge and now has to adjust supply. TipRanks TipRanks
Bernstein raised its price targets on both AMD and Arm in a call that also covered Intel, framing the move as part of a CPU recovery linked to agentic AI, with software that handles tasks more independently. AMD gained 1.0% to $512.48 and Arm was up 5.7% at $418.88. The SOXX semiconductor ETF climbed 1.4%. Nvidia dropped 1.3%.
Intel’s Q1 laid bare the stakes in its foundry push. Revenue was up 7% to $13.6 billion. Data Center and AI sales jumped 22% to $5.1 billion. Intel Foundry brought in $5.4 billion, up 16%. Still, the foundry side posted a $2.44 billion operating loss.
The risk is that producing at risk doesn’t guarantee big orders or reliable profits yet. Intel has warned about rivals, high and unpredictable spending, complicated process development, product problems, demand shifts, and trade frictions. All of that could threaten its plan.
Markets could see bumpy trading as the Nasdaq holiday calendar puts the U.S. market closure on Friday, June 19, for Juneteenth. Investors are expected to shift their focus after the break, watching to see if 18A-P moves beyond process and leads to committed external business.
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