Intel’s AI glow-up gets a live earnings test

The AI story is doing some heavy lifting

Intel has been one of those stocks that keeps popping up in the group chat lately, and Thursday was no exception. Shares jumped as investors leaned into the idea that AI demand is broadening beyond NVIDIA-style GPUs and into the CPUs and data center plumbing that Intel and AMD sell.

Tesla makes it even juicier

The other eyebrow-raiser: Elon Musk reportedly backed using Intel’s next-gen 14A manufacturing process for Tesla’s in-house AI chips at a planned Terafab complex in Austin. Translation? If that relationship turns into real volume, Intel could land a very shiny external customer — the kind Wall Street loves to obsess over until it doesn’t.

But the real test is after hours

All the sentiment in the world still has to survive an earnings print, and Intel’s report lands after the bell today. Analysts are looking for revenue around $12.42 billion and earnings of 1.4 cents a share, which is a pretty awkward comparison versus the 13 cents a share Intel posted a year ago.

What investors are really watching

This one isn’t just about whether Intel beats or misses by a penny. It’s about whether the company can keep convincing the market that it’s not just back in the race — it’s actually in the right lane.

Big picture: Intel’s rally has been running on both fundamentals and vibes. Tonight, one of those gets graded.