Shares in both Intel (INTC) and Nvidia (NVDA) rose on Wednesday following more light being shed on their partnership signed back in December. The two companies announced in September that Nvidia would be purchasing $5B in Intel shares, with the deal finalizing in December. Intel is now trading above $43 and looks ready to return to its ATH levels in 2026 with Nvidia’s backing.
The two companies will focus on seamlessly connecting NVIDIA and Intel architectures using NVIDIA NVLink — integrating the strengths of NVIDIA’s AI and accelerated computing with Intel’s leading CPU technologies and x86 ecosystem to deliver cutting-edge solutions for customers. Nvidia’s stake purchase would represent a roughly 4% stake in Intel and bring recent outside investment in the latter to $16 billion. It also combined with a $10B investment by the US government in Intel as well, hoping to position itself better in the chipmaking race against China.
Intel (INTC) is also up after the company launched its Panther Lake processor line at CES and picked up a bullish call from Wall Street. At the CES show in Las Vegas on Monday, Intel launched Panther Lake, its new laptop chip, as the first high-volume product made using its 18A process.
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In addition, Intel said the chips should deliver 60% better performance than the prior Lunar Lake Series 2. CEO Lip-Bu Tan told the event that Intel had shipped its first 18A products in 2025, as AMD and Nvidia pushed their own AI chip plans at the show. The new chips promise significant performance improvements, positioning Intel favorably in the AI market as global demand for AI technologies continues to rise.
Despite the bullish rise these last few days, analysts remain = split on Intel (INTC) stock outlook. Loop Capital and Rosenblatt have a $25 price target, indicating caution, while Truist Securities is more aligned with the current market price at $39.