Bank Of America Bank Lifts Intel Target to $135 on Buy Upgrade
bank of america bank lifted Intel to Buy from Underperform and raised its price target to $135 from $96, sending shares up 5.1% in the morning session. Vivek Arya pointed to stronger server CPU demand tied to agentic AI workloads and clearer visibility at Intel Foundry, giving the stock a fresh catalyst after a volatile year.
Intel Shares Add 5.1%
5.1% was the morning gain in Intel shares after the double upgrade, a move that followed the new $135 target and the shift away from Underperform. For holders, the immediate read-through is simple: one of Wall Street’s more cautious voices now sees more room for the stock than it did at $96.
$13.58 billion was Intel’s Q1 2026 revenue, and it beat consensus by about $1.16 billion. That backdrop gave Arya a foundation to argue that demand is improving rather than merely being priced into the stock; Intel’s Data Center and AI segment also rose 22% to $5.1 billion, a sign that the server side of the business is already moving.
Google TPU Plan and Intel Foundry
More than three million TPUs in 2028 is the production order The Information said Google placed through Intel, and Arya used that report to sharpen his view on Intel Foundry. Morgan Stanley estimated Google could build more than six million TPUs across 2027 and 2028, so Intel’s reported share would amount to roughly half of that estimate if it holds.
18A is also in the picture, with Nvidia running early multi-project wafer tests on Intel’s process for a multi-die GPU design tied to its Feynman architecture. Nvidia has not placed a production order, and the Google TPU arrangement has not been officially confirmed by Google or Intel, which leaves the foundry story dependent on orders that are still reported rather than booked.
JPMorgan’s Teacup View
“storm in a teacup” was JPMorgan’s description of the reported Google chip arrangement, arguing the chips may still be fabricated at TSMC with Intel handling packaging only. That pushback matters because the market had been bidding up Intel on a foundry story tied to potential customer wins, not just on current quarterly results.
51 moves greater than 5% over the last year show why this stock can reprice fast when the narrative shifts. For now, the question for traders is whether the combination of server CPU demand, Intel Foundry visibility, and any follow-through on Google or Nvidia work turns today’s upgrade into a sustained rerating rather than another sharp swing.
