Intel Stock Soars 24% on Friday, Marking Biggest Single-Day Gain Since 1987
Intel's stock surged 24% on Friday, its best single-day performance since October 1987, as investors were encouraged by signs of a potential turnaround driven by growing AI demand. The stock closed at $82.57, accumulating a 124% increase year-to-date following an 84% rise in 2025. The Friday rally surpassed the stock's 23% gain on September 18th, when Nvidia agreed to invest $5 billion in Intel.
Pat Gelsinger, who took over as CEO in early 2023, has reignited Wall Street's interest in the struggling chip company by securing investments from the Trump administration and Nvidia, and by helping the chipmaker, which had been largely excluded from the AI boom, enter the field.
“Intel’s new CEO has fixed the balance sheet and is executing on a strategy that appears to be putting Intel back on a competitive footing,” Evercore ISI analysts wrote in a report following the earnings release. The firm upgraded its rating on Intel stock to the equivalent of “buy.”
The company’s revenue exceeded expectations, growing 7.2% year-over-year from $12.67 billion to $13.58 billion. The company had experienced year-over-year revenue declines in five of the previous seven quarters. Intel also issued optimistic guidance for its second-quarter performance.
Wall Street’s rebound marks a significant turning point for the American chipmaker. The company’s market capitalization evaporated by 60% in 2024, leading to the dismissal of then-CEO Pat Kissinger in December of that year.
For years, the company was largely absent from the AI race, hampered by manufacturing delays and waiting for major customers for its chip foundry business.
Some analysts are still waiting to see if Intel’s next-generation 14A manufacturing technology, planned for launch in 2028 or later, can deliver satisfactory yields. Previously, Gelsinger had indicated Intel would wait for major customers to emerge before pushing forward with expensive technology upgrades, but in January he posted on X that Intel would “aggressively invest in 14A.”
Gelsinger said on the earnings call last Thursday that “multiple customers” are “actively evaluating the technology,” and its development is progressing faster than Intel’s previous 18A technology.
Intel’s data center business is currently the primary driver of growth. The business’s revenue increased 22% year-over-year to $5 billion, driven by new demand for central processing units fueled by artificial intelligence. Gelsinger called CPUs “an indispensable foundation for the age of AI” on the earnings call.
Citi analysts upgraded the stock to “buy” from “neutral,” anticipating increased CPU sales for all suppliers in the coming years.