shares leaped to their highest intraday level since the dot-com era on Friday as optimism that the chipmaker’s turnaround plan is working continues to grow.
as much as 1.5 per cent to US$69.55, topping a peak it hit on Jan. 24, 2020. The shares are up 90 per cent this year, after soaring 84 per cent in 2025. Intel is now roughly eight per cent from its all-time closing high of US$74.88, established on Aug. 31, 2000.
is in the midst of a multiyear effort to restore its
after years of
to rivals such as
. Mounting losses from heavy spending on new factories amid declining revenue contributed to a selloff that sent Intel shares down 60 per cent in 2024.
The improving sentiment follows several key developments. In early April, Intel agreed to pay US$14.2 billion to buy back half of a plant in Ireland from Apollo Global Management, which was seen as a sign of progress in its turnaround efforts. Subsequently, Intel said it would join Elon Musk’s Terafab project to develop semiconductors for Tesla Inc., SpaceX and xAI. That news followed a commitment from Alphabet Inc.’s Google to use future generations of Intel’s Xeon processors in data centres.
“There’s a lot of near term catalysts,” said Ryuta Makino, research analyst at Gabelli Funds. “Intel is very attractive.” He added that he’s “pretty confident” the company will announce an external customer for the foundry business this year, echoing Wall Street pros who have speculated Intel could work with the likes of Apple Inc. or
, the leader in AI chips, which last year
.
“The thesis around Intel’s value as a strategic foundry asset seems to be validated daily,” Ben Reitzes, an analyst at Melius Research, wrote in a note to clients on April 10 note, in which he raised his price target on the stock for the third time this year. He expects Intel’s rally to continue, with the potential for new big-name customers to be announced.
“As execution continues, gross margins climb toward the mid-40s, and external Foundry customers (potentially Apple and Nvidia) begin contributing real revenue, we believe Intel could trend toward 4x book value over time, which would imply a stock well north of US$100,” he wrote.
—With assistance from Carmen Reinicke and Subrat Patnaik.