Intel stock surges 12%, hitting new historic highs

Intel (INTC) surged 12.1% with significant volume on Wednesday, closing at $94.75, hitting a new historical high, and with a turnover of $20.873 billion, it ranked second in US stocks for the day. Since the beginning of the year, the cumulative increase has reached 156.78%, leading the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index constituents. Compared with the decade-low of $17.665 in April 2025, the increase reached 436% in less than 13 months.

The direct catalyst for this round of market movement is Intel's first-quarter financial report that significantly exceeded expectations. The company's first-quarter revenue was $13.6 billion, a year-on-year increase of 7%.

The company expects second-quarter revenue to be between $13.8 billion and $14.8 billion, far higher than the market's previous estimate of $13 billion.

The core highlight of the financial report lies in the market's re-recognition of the role of CPUs.

Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger said on the financial report conference call: "CPUs are re-establishing their indispensable foundational position in the AI era - this is not our wishful thinking, but what our customers have told us.

"Early AI training was dominated by Nvidia GPUs, but with the rise of agent-based AI and inference workloads, when AI Agents perform tasks such as browsing the web and retrieving data, it is the CPU that is relied upon, which has revitalized the demand for this once "silent" chip.

The potential breakthrough in the foundry business is also boosting sentiment.

According to a report in Taiwan's "Commercial Times," Google's next-generation TPUv8e AI chip may use Intel's EMIB advanced packaging technology; currently, Intel has stated that they will not actively name customers and will wait for the customers to announce it themselves.

Previously, according to WIRED citing multiple sources, Intel has engaged in in-depth negotiations with Google and Amazon on advanced packaging services, with both parties planning to use EMIB technology for their respective customized AI chips.

Intel CFO George Davis previously stated at the Morgan Stanley Technology Conference that the company is very close to signing packaging contracts at the "billion-dollar level." It is worth noting that the aforementioned Google cooperation report has not yet been officially confirmed.

Political factors are also a background to this round of market movement. Former US President Trump publicly stated that Intel's stock price "will continue to rise," and last August the federal government spent $8.9 billion to acquire about 10% of Intel's shares, which are now valued at about $36 billion.

However, Intel's path to recovery still has obvious hidden dangers. In the first quarter, the company recorded a GAAP net loss of $3.7 billion, mainly due to more than $4 billion in restructuring costs; the long-term viability of the foundry business remains the market's biggest unanswered question.

Cerity Partners partner Michael Schulman told Reuters that whether Intel can truly become a strong competitor to TSMC by 2030 is still a "high-stakes bet."

For investors, there are several key clues worth following in the coming days: whether Google and Amazon packaging contracts can be landed as scheduled and officially confirmed; whether the 18A process yield progresses as planned; and whether the foundry department can achieve break-even by 2027 as the management has stated.