Why Intel Rallied Today
Key Points
Intel's CFO participated in an industry conference this morning.
At the conference, he gave several positive updates, especially on the ramp of Intel's critical 18A node.
He confirmed that Intel now felt comfortable marketing the node to external customers, whereas last year management had said the node might only be an internal node.
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Shares of Intel (NASDAQ: INTC) were rallying on Wednesday, up 6.1% as of 1:37 p.m. EDT.
Many technology and AI-related companies were rebounding from yesterday's sell-off today; however, Intel shares might have gotten an added boost when its Chief Financial Officer, David Zinsner, spoke at a technology conference this morning.
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The conversation contained numerous positives about current demand, Intel's foundry ambitions, and other aspects of the semiconductor giant.
Intel's turnaround ramp is back on track
It's hard to pinpoint one specific data point that propelled the stock higher today. Perhaps the biggest positive was when Zinsner disclosed that Intel is progressing yield ramp improvements for its 18A node at, or even ahead of, its internal projections.
18A is critical to Intel. It's the process through which it aims to achieve node parity with Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing (NYSE: TSM). However, ramping a new node is difficult, and yields often start off low, before improving. Low yields hurt gross margins and keep external customers away from Intel's foundry.
But Zinsner reiterated and expanded on the positives CEO Lip-Bu Tan shared back in February. 18A's yields are now improving at a consistent rate, and the first 18A product, Panther Lake, has been well-received. Not only that, but since yields are improving and the product has received positive feedback, Zinsner said external foundry customers are now considering using 18AP, the next variant of 18A, for their foundry. Zinsner noted that Tan had previously thought 18A would only be an internal node. In fact, in mid-2025, news outlets reported that Intel had stopped marketing the node to external customers altogether.
But today, Zinsner said that Tan has now realized 18A or 18AP may in fact be a solid node to offer external customers, which could jump-start Intel's ambitions to become a foundry to outside chipmakers earlier than expected. He also stated that Intel's foundry margins should improve throughout this year.
In addition to the positive words on the all-important 18A node, Zinsner also had positive words to say around the reinvigorated server CPU demand spurred on by agentic inference applications.
Image source: Getty Images.
Intel's rally may not be done
Intel stock has pulled back a bit from its 52-week high after nearly doubling in 2025 and then posting a strong January ahead of earnings. However, the post-earnings pullback, sparked by lackluster Q1 guidance, appeared to stem from supply constraints.
But supply constraints are a much better problem to have than low demand. And if 18A continues to improve its output throughout the year, that could lead to Intel landing external foundry customers and making an official announcement in that regard. If a large customer brings significant volumes to Intel's foundry for either 18A or the upcoming 14A node, that could propel the stock higher.
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Billy Duberstein and/or his clients have positions in Intel and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Intel and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
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