Intel up 7% on AI demand optimism and 14A foundry progress

Intel shares rose 7% on Tuesday in New York trading after reports of progress on the company’s 14A foundry node and growing optimism about AI infrastructure spending. Traders pushed the stock higher during the session.

Cantor Fitzgerald raised its price target on Intel to $150 from $90 while keeping a Neutral rating. Analyst C.J. Muse wrote, “the AI infrastructure buildout represents a generational semiconductor cycle.” Bank of America recently upgraded Intel to Buy with a $160 target, citing expanding server CPU opportunities and potential external foundry business.

Wells Fargo increased its price target on Advanced Micro Devices to $615. Wells Fargo analyst Aaron Rakers wrote that most AI spending remains concentrated in GPUs but expects CPU demand to grow strongly over the next several years. Investors extended that outlook to other chipmakers, and Intel outperformed AMD during Tuesday’s trading session.

The broader market supported gains in semiconductor stocks. The Nasdaq Composite rose 1.37% and the S&P 500 added 0.73% on Tuesday. The VanEck Semiconductor ETF (SMH) gained 75.5% in the first half of 2026, including a 65% increase in the second quarter, the ETF’s strongest first-half and best quarterly return since its May 2000 inception.

Investors are watching execution of the 14A process node as a measure of Intel’s manufacturing turnaround under CEO Lip-Bu Tan. The 14A node is seen as a test of the company’s ability to scale advanced manufacturing and to win external customers for foundry services that produce chips for AI and data-center workloads.