Intel Stock (NASDAQ:INTC) Slips Despite Power of Fab 52

A new report emerged about chip stock Intel (INTC), and one of its primary processing operations: Fab 52. In fact, there are clear signs that Fab 52 puts one of Intel's primary competitors, TSMC (TSM) to shame in the United States. Despite what should have been welcome news, Intel shares still slipped fractionally in Tuesday afternoon's trading.Claim 70% Off TipRanks This Holiday SeasonUnlock hedge-fund level data and powerful investing tools for smarter, sharper decisions Stay ahead of the market with the latest news and analysis and maximize your portfolio's potential The reports note that Fab 52 is actually superior to TSMC's United States operations on two critical fronts: Fab 52 is bigger, and it has better equipment. Not only is Fab 52 able to outmatch TSMC's Fab 21 phase one, it also outranks the Fab 21 phase two operations that are still on the forthcoming list. Fab 52 also has sufficient production capability to be a match for both of TSMC's fabs combined, reports note. Fab 52 handles the 18A node, and can incorporate other technologies like gate-all-around RibbonFET transistors, the PowerVia backside power delivery network, a set of four ASML Twinscan NXE Low-NA EUV lithography systems, and more. In fact, Fab 52 is capable of producing around 40,000 wafer starts per month, which is the level that a "very large fab" can reach by current standards. New Firmware Emerges Only a couple weeks stand between us and the Consumer Electronics Show (CES), one of the biggest events in consumer-facing tech of any given year. Intel is getting ready for the big event, planning to show off new Panther Lake laptops armed with a set of new drivers. And Intel just finished getting one such driver ready: Linux support for the "50xx" neural processing unit (NPU) on Panther Lake. The new driver represented a major step forward, as the firmware binary will be a vital part of getting the IVPU kernel driver up and running and starting up the NPU. And while only time will tell just how well the whole thing works, the early word suggests that this should work out nicely. If it works as expected, it should be a feather in Intel's cap at a time when it needs such feathers desperately. Is Intel a Buy, Hold or Sell? Turning to Wall Street, analysts have a Hold consensus rating on INTC stock based on five Buys, 20 Holds and six Sells assigned in the past three months, as indicated by the graphic below. After an 78.28% rally in its share price over the past year, the average INTC price target of $38.09 per share implies 5.13% upside potential.