Quick overview
- Intel’s stock fell to $125.41 after Goldman Sachs issued a ‘Neutral’ rating, favoring competitors like AMD and Nvidia.
- Despite the initial drop, institutional buyers helped boost Intel’s stock back to $132.87, reflecting strong market resilience.
- Intel has transformed into a key player in the AI sector, with significant orders from Google and a potential partnership with Apple.
- The upcoming Q2 earnings report on July 2 is critical for Intel to validate its recent growth and market cap exceeding $660 billion.
Intel’s stock earlier collapsed to a low of $125.41 and settled at $133 per share. The initial drop-off was triggered by Goldman Sachs launching coverage on Intel with a “Neutral” rating.
While Goldman analyst James Schneider acknowledged that Intel is a primary beneficiary of the broader AI buildout, the firm explicitly stated that they prefer AMD, Nvidia, and Broadcom for immediate growth. The note triggered immediate profit-taking from shorter-term traders who had ridden Intel’s massive recent rally.
Remarkably, institutional buyers stepped in to buy the dip, pulling Intel back up to close at $132.87. The underlying resilience points to huge structural momentum: Intel shares have more than doubled in just three weeks and are up an eye-popping 240%+ so far in 2026.
Intel has transitioned from a beaten-down legacy chipmaker into a primary AI foundry story. Wall Street has aggressively re-priced the stock due to two massive fundamental catalysts that surfaced this month:
Google confirmed a massive order for Intel Foundry to manufacture more than 3 million custom Tensor Processing Units (TPUs) for 2028. It is one of the largest single commercial volume orders Intel Foundry has ever secured.
indicating a developing manufacturing partnership with Apple (AAPL) to leverage Intel’s cutting-edge 18A process node has poured fuel on the rally, validating Intel’s capability to compete directly with TSMC.
: Intel’s ability to shake off a cautious Goldman Sachs note and finish positive on massive volume confirms that institutional backing for its turnaround story remains incredibly strong. However, with its market cap swelling past $660 billion, the pressure is on for Intel to validate these AI foundry wins in its upcoming Q2 earnings report on July 2
Olumide Adesina
Financial Market Writer
Olumide Adesina is a French-born Nigerian financial writer. He tracks the financial markets with over 15 years of working experience in investment trading.
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