INTC Stock Has Surged 233% This Year — HSBC Sees Another 60% Upside As Foundry Business Becomes 'Too Good to Ignore'

According to TheFly, HSBC analysts raised their price target to $200 from $100 while maintaining a ‘Buy’ rating on the stock.

• HSBC said Intel's server CPU business is expected to remain the primary driver of the company's earnings growth in 2026 and 2027.
• The firm believes the narrative around Intel's foundry business has improved significantly.
• HSBC said the improving outlook for the foundry unit has become meaningful enough to factor it into its sum-of-the-parts valuation of the company.

Shares of Intel Corp. (INTC) are up more than 233% this year, but Wall Street sees the stock soaring further, thanks to a business that is seeing renewed interest on the back of deals with Tesla Inc. (TSLA), Space Exploration Technologies Corp. (SPCX), and Alphabet Inc. (GOOG, GOOGL).

According to TheFly, analysts at HSBC raised their price target to $200 from $100 while keeping a ‘Buy’ rating on the stock, implying an upside potential of about 60% from current levels.

Intel shares were down about 4% in Thursday morning’s trade.

Why HSBC Is Bullish On INTC

HSBC said Intel's server CPU business is expected to remain the primary driver of the company's earnings growth in 2026 and 2027. However, the firm believes the narrative around Intel's foundry business has improved significantly, calling it "too good to ignore now."

The firm expects foundry engagements to begin materializing in the second half of 2026, providing greater visibility into the business as Intel continues its push to manufacture chips for external customers.

HSBC said the improving outlook for the foundry unit has become meaningful enough to factor it into its sum-of-the-parts valuation of the company. The firm noted that while investors have largely focused on Intel's server CPU growth, the foundry business is increasingly emerging as an additional source of long-term value.

Analysts at Cantor Fitzgerald raised their price target for Intel to $150 from $90, with a ‘Neutral’ rating.

The firm stated in its note this week that the ongoing AI infrastructure buildout represents a generational semiconductor growth cycle that is likely to prove both durable and longer-lasting than previously expected due to persistent supply chain constraints.

Cantor now expects industry revenue to expand faster than earlier forecasts, reaching about $3 trillion by calendar 2029 and potentially surpassing $3.5 trillion by 2030.

INTC Promises To Deliver Toolkit To SPCX And AAPL, Says Report

According to a report by The New York Times, citing people familiar with the matter, Intel has promised to deliver a toolkit to SpaceX and Apple to allow them to test its 14A node technology before they make final commitments to manufacture their chips through Intel Foundry.

All three companies have entered into agreements with Intel to manufacture chips for their respective products. In another boost for Intel, Alphabet’s Google has also reportedly placed orders to manufacture its specialized AI chips, known as Tensor Processing Units (TPUs).

These deals would provide Intel’s Foundry unit with a major boost, which had been underperforming for years. In the first quarter (Q1), Intel reported that its Foundry unit had an operating loss of $2.4 billion.

What Retail Traders Think Of INTC Stock

Retail sentiment on Stocktwits around Intel trended in ‘bullish’ territory at the time of writing.

INTC stock is up 233% year-to-date and 462% over the past 12 months. The S&P 500 ETF (SPY) is up 20% over the past 12 months, while the Invesco QQQ Trust ETF (QQQ) is up 29%.

The Vanguard S&P 500 ETF (VOO) is up 20% during this period.

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