Overview
- Intel shares climbed to a new 52-week high near $130 after strong quarterly results and media reports of a preliminary chip-manufacturing agreement with Apple that have not been formally detailed.
- First-quarter revenue rose 7% year over year to $13.6 billion with adjusted earnings of $0.29 per share and a 41% adjusted gross margin, topping Intel’s guidance.
- Data center and AI revenue grew 22% to $5.1 billion as Intel highlighted a shift toward AI inference, where CPUs coordinate and run models after training instead of relying only on GPUs.
- Nvidia last year committed $5 billion to Intel and agreed to use it for custom data center CPUs, and Intel also joined Elon Musk’s Terafab project alongside SpaceX, xAI, and Tesla.
- The rally faces warnings about frothy pricing, with Intel trading around 119 times forward earnings as one analysis cites an average Wall Street target near $80.93 and momentum gauges flashing overbought readings.