Intel shares surged to a new all-time high on April 24 after investors received the clearest sign yet that the company may finally be benefiting from the AI boom.
The stock jumped more than 24% to around $83 in early trading, passing its dot-com-era peak from 2000 and lifting Intel’s market value above $416 billion.
The rally followed stronger-than-expected earnings and guidance that suggested demand for Intel’s server CPUs is rising faster than Wall Street expected.
AI Demand Is Moving Back Toward CPUs
The main driver is a shift in AI infrastructure. The first phase of the AI boom centered on GPUs, led by Nvidia.
Now, more AI models are moving from training to deployment, where CPUs play a larger role.
Intel said demand from AI service providers was so strong in the first quarter that it sold chips it had previously written off.
CFO David Zinsner said tight supply also allowed the company to raise prices and sell older inventory it had not expected to move.
That changed the market’s view of Intel. Investors are starting to see the company as a direct beneficiary of AI inference, where models answer user queries and handle more complex workloads.
Earnings Gave the Rally Fuel
Intel reported first-quarter revenue of $13.58 billion, above estimates of $12.42 billion. Its data center and AI segment generated $5.1 billion, also ahead of expectations.
Guidance mattered even more. Intel expects second-quarter revenue between $13.8 billion and $14.8 billion, compared with Wall Street’s $13.07 billion estimate.
Analysts responded quickly. At least 23 brokerages raised their price targets after the results, with HSBC pointing to demand for Intel’s Xeon server CPUs.
Can the Rally Continue?
The rally can continue if Intel proves this demand is durable. The Tesla 14A manufacturing deal and growing AI CPU demand give investors a stronger turnaround story.
Still, the stock now trades at around 90 times forward earnings, far above AMD and Nvidia. That leaves little room for disappointment.
Intel has momentum. To keep it, the company must show that today’s surge was the start of sustained AI-driven growth, not a one-quarter inventory and pricing boost.
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