Intel (INTC) is back in Wall Street’s face after a brutal rally that pushed the stock above 17% in one day. Shares gained 13% on Tuesday and reached a record $110 before another 4.76% jump after regular trading ended.
The reason was simple: traders saw a new chance that Intel could land deeper work with Apple (AAPL) as U.S. chip production became a bigger part of Big Tech’s supply chain plans.
The buying started after a report said Apple is talking with Intel and Samsung about building the main processors for its devices in the United States.
Apple had relied for many years on the world’s largest chipmaker, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC), for its silicon chips, so any serious U.S. manufacturing option is a big deal for investors.
Apple gives Intel traders another reason to chase the U.S. chip factory story
The rally did not come from nowhere. Intel just finished its strongest month since it entered the Nasdaq 55 years ago. The stock gained 114% in April and lifted the company’s market value above $470 billion.
Several deals fed that run. Intel expanded its work with Alphabet’s Google (GOOGL). The company also said it would take part in Elon Musk’s Terafab project. On top of that, Intel agreed to buy the remaining 49% interest in its Fab 34 plant in Ireland for $14.2 billion.
AI demand is also helping the stock. Intel chief executive Lip-Bu Tan said during the first-quarter earnings call that CPUs are an “indispensable foundation of the AI era.” That quote landed because Intel has spent years trying to recover from factory delays while other chip companies ran faster in AI hardware.
The bigger story is that Intel is no longer being treated like a dead-money chip name. Since the U.S. government bought a 10% stake last August through an $8.9 billion investment, the stock has gained more than 330%.
For a market that now trades chip stocks with the same nerves crypto traders bring to Bitcoin candles, that number is loud.
Trump says INTC has now made the U.S. $45 billion from its government stake
President Donald Trump has been openly taking credit for the rally. Last week, he wrote on Truth Social, “Intel Stock continues to rise. I’m very proud of that Company in that I am responsible for making the United States of America over 30 Billion Dollars in the last 90 days on that stock alone.”
Trump posted again on Monday and said, “I made the U.S.A. 45 Billion Dollars in 8 months!” He included a White House chart showing the progress of the government’s investment.
Intel is now up 200% this year, which makes it the best performer in the PHLX Semiconductor Index. Possible Big Tech foundry work has already helped the stock before, with Apple and Alphabet looking at Intel Foundry for chip production.
Technical traders are still leaning hard into the stock. One financial data platform has a “100% BUY” view on Intel, based on 13 short-, medium-, and long-term indicators.
INTC is also trading above its major moving averages, which suggests large buyers are still involved.
Options traders are not acting shy either. Contracts that expire on Aug. 21 have the top price near $142, which points to about 31% more upside from current levels. Intel does not pay a dividend.
Wall Street is more careful. The average analyst rating is Hold, while the mean price target is just under $80. That points to more than 25% downside from where INTC is trading now, meaning analysts think the rally may have already run too hot.