Intel's stock pops as its latest move signals a 'turnaround' is afoot

By Britney Nguyen

The chip maker's repurchasing of equity interest in the joint venture related to its Ireland fab supports its manufacturing capabilities, an analyst says

Intel's stock has been up for two consecutive days.

Intel has a lot to prove as it looks to reclaim leadership in chip manufacturing, and its latest move is perhaps a sign that it's heading in the right direction.

The chip maker (INTC) announced Wednesday that it is paying $14.2 billion to repurchase the 49% equity interest in a joint venture related to its fab in Ireland, which had been acquired by Apollo Global Management (APO) in 2024 for $11.2 billion.

D.A. Davidson managing director Gil Luria wrote in a Wednesday note that the repurchase "bodes well for the [Intel] turnaround story," and also significantly strengthens its balance sheet.

The agreement with Apollo shows its "continued business momentum" with central processing units, which are becoming increasingly important in the artificial-intelligence data-center buildout, Intel said. Apollo's acquisition had given Intel more financial strength to improve on its strategy, the company said, including with the development of the Intel 4 and Intel 3 process nodes.

That Intel's Fab 34 in Ireland is already operating in high volume for chips built on those process nodes "supports [Intel's] operational flexibility," as the use of its chip-fabrication facilities continues to ramp with current and future products, Luria said.

Intel's shares shot up 8.8% on Wednesday, and have soared 16.1% over the past two days, representing its best two-day stretch since the stock climbed 18.8% over the two days ending Sept. 19, 2025.

See more: Intel's stock is climbing. Here's why the company's new chip launch is so significant.

Late last month, Intel announced new commercial personal-computer chips that will be built on its advanced 18A process node, reflecting confidence in its chip-manufacturing capabilities. The business-focused processors come just three months after Intel launched the consumer version of the PC chips.

Some on Wall Street are looking at 18A as an indicator that Intel can be competitive in chip manufacturing again, though the upcoming 14A process node is where the chip maker will need to prove itself to potential external foundry customers.

Meanwhile, Intel's server CPUs are seeing renewed interest as the AI industry shifts more to inference, or the process of running AI models after training, and the company is reportedly raising prices by up to 15%. Demand for server CPUs is outpacing supply, and shortages there are becoming a bottleneck to AI development, Bank of America analyst Vivek Arya said in a note earlier this week.

Read on: These stocks are 'the place to be' if you want serious AI growth, says BofA.

-Britney Nguyen

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04-01-26 1722ET