Intel shares jump on bullish forecasts, AI boom boosts turnaround

Intel shares rose 6% in premarket trading Friday after the company issued forecasts pointing to stronger revenue and profit, a sign that the AI boom may be feeding its turnaround. Some market coverage of the same move put the gain as high as 19% or more than 20% before the open, underscoring how sharply investors reacted.

The rally followed Intel’s second-quarter results, which showed revenue of $16.13 billion and adjusted earnings of 42 cents per share. Revenue rose 25.4% from a year earlier, Intel’s fastest growth in almost 15 years, and the numbers came in above market expectations. Intel also raised its 2026 capital spending plan to $20 billion from $18 billion, a reminder that the company is still betting heavily on manufacturing and capacity even as it works to restore credibility with Wall Street.

The key driver in the outlook was demand for AI-driven server chips and broader spending on servers and data centers. That matters because the AI trade has concentrated investor attention on a narrow group of leaders, especially Nvidia, while Intel has been trying to prove it can win a larger role in the infrastructure behind artificial intelligence. A stronger forecast does not settle that debate, but it does show that Intel is beginning to benefit from the same spending cycle that has lifted the broader semiconductor market.

Intel’s turnaround under chief executive Lip-Bu Tan has become a major test of whether a legacy U.S. chipmaker can catch a second wind as AI spending spreads beyond the biggest winners. CNBC said the company’s latest quarter showed the turnaround gaining steam, and called it Intel’s fastest revenue growth in almost 15 years. That combination of stronger sales, better profits and a larger capital budget suggests investors are not just trading a one-quarter bounce, but reassessing whether Intel’s execution is improving enough to matter.

The market has already used Intel as a bellwether for the sector this year. On April 24, U.S. chip stocks climbed to record highs after Intel delivered an unexpectedly strong revenue forecast that helped fuel fresh optimism around the AI rally. Friday’s jump showed that the same pattern is still at work: when Intel’s outlook improves, investors read it not only as a company-specific update, but as a signal about domestic chip investment, manufacturing strategy and whether the AI boom is broadening enough to lift a longtime laggard.