Intel Stock Sinks As Nvidia CEO Shoots Down Stake Rumors, TSMC Exec Dismisses Buyout Talk: Retail Still Finds Optimism

Shares of Intel Corp. (INTC) declined nearly 7% in Wednesday’s regular trading session after Nvidia Corp. (NVDA) CEO Jensen Huang denied reports that the company was approached to pick up a stake in the beleaguered chipmaker.

A media report earlier this month stated that Intel’s foundry business could be taken over by Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. Ltd. (TSMC) in a joint venture with other industry players like Nvidia, Broadcom Inc. (AVGO), and Advanced Micro Devices Inc. (AMD).

However, Huang shot down these rumors during a press conference at the ongoing GTC 2025 event, saying that he had not been “invited” to the party.

“Nobody's invited us to a consortium,” Huang said, according to Reuters.

“Nobody invited me. Maybe other people are involved, but I don't know. There might be a party. I wasn't invited,” he added.

Further, TSMC board member Paul Liu also denied rumors that the company is looking to take over Intel’s foundry business, according to a report by DigiTimes.

Liu said this was not discussed at the board level.

This comes at a time when Intel has appointed a new CEO, Lip-Bu Tan, to succeed industry veteran Pat Gelsinger.

Tan is reportedly considering a shakeup of Intel, which he thinks has become a slow-moving company due to a bloated middle-management. He is also considering a major revamp to Intel’s manufacturing operations.

Despite clarifications from Huang and TSMC, retail sentiment on Stocktwits around the Intel stock turned more optimistic, entering the ‘bullish’ (56/100) territory from ‘neutral’ a day ago.

Message volume remained at ‘high’ levels.

INTC sentiment and message volume March 19, 2025, as of  8 pm ET | Source: Stocktwits

One user thinks Intel will eventually come out on top.

Another thinks that the stock’s decline is what “money managers” want “for now.”

Intel’s stock has gained over 20% year-to-date but has lost nearly 43% of its value over the past year.

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