GoKawiilThe Intel logo is displayed on a sign in front of Intel headquarters on Jan. 22, 2026 in Santa Clara, California.
Intel shares soared 24% on Friday, their best performance since October 1987, as investors cheered signs of renewed growth due to mounting artificial intelligence demand.
The stock closed at $82.57 and is now up 124% this year after jumping 84% in 2025. Friday's rally topped a 23% gain for the stock on Sept. 18, when Nvidia agreed to invest $5 billion in the company.
CEO Lip-Bu Tan, who took the helm early last year, has revived Wall Street interest in the struggling chipmaker by reeling in investments from the Trump administration and Nvidia , and by helping the company elbow its way into the AI boom, where it had previously been largely shut out.
"INTC's new CEO fixed the balance sheet, and is executing on a strategy that appears to have put INTC back on the competitive track," analysts at Evercore ISI wrote in a report after earnings, upgrading the shares to the equivalent of a buy rating.
Revenue topped estimates and rose 7.2% to $13.58 billion from $12.67 billion a year earlier. In five of the prior seven quarters, the company posted year-over-year declines in revenue. Intel also issued upbeat second-quarter guidance.