Shares of Intel (INTC -2.74%) rallied for the second day in a row on Thursday, up 6.4% as of 12:23 p.m. ET.
Intel received good news yesterday regarding the end-demand fundamentals of its key end markets. However, the stock's strong rally over the past month has generally been due to investments from outside parties, including Nvidia, SoftBank, and the U.S. government.
Last night, another rumor emerged regarding another potential investment along these lines, with Bloomberg reporting the next investee could be Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL). This and other news around Intel raising prices on certain PC chips could be leading to the strong rally today.
Lip-Bu Tan pitches Apple
According to Bloomberg, Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan has apparently approached Apple for a potential investment in the company.
A deal may seem far-fetched, as Apple is a massive, first-in-line customer of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing. However, Apple has huge silicon needs between its A-series iPhone chipsets and various M-series laptop and desktop chipsets. The company is also looking to curry favor with the Trump administration, which has been advocating for more investment in U.S. tech manufacturing. And finally, if Intel's foundry efforts were to fail and TSMC became a true monopoly, TSMC could continue raising wafer prices as much as it wanted to customers, including Apple.
An investment from Apple would further bolster Intel's balance sheet, and also could signal that Apple may become a future foundry customer for Intel's 14A node.
In addition to the Apple rumors, it was also reported Intel was raising prices on its older-generation Raptor Lake CPUs.
It is strange to see Intel raising prices on an older node chip, but it could indicate strong demand for low-end laptops. Another possibility would be if Intel were moving more equipment to supply newer nodes, which would indicate stronger demand for new PC chips. Yesterday, memory giant Micron said it is seeing stronger PC demand than anticipated, so this is likely good news for Intel's revenue and margins either way.
Image source: Getty Images.
Is Intel's run coming to an end or just getting started?
Intel's stock has now regained levels not seen since July 2024, after a long winter in which its future came into doubt and the stock price fell below the company's book value. However, it appears Tan's capital raise from prominent fabless chipmakers is boosting confidence in Intel's strategy and technology, despite their dilutive effects.
The next big step for Intel will be proving out its 18A node, which will debut with the fourth-quarter launch of its Panther Lake CPU.
