Intel (INTC) recently hit a new all-time high (May 2026), primarily thanks to the better-than-expected Q1 2026 earnings report released yesterday (April 30) and a major breakthrough in its foundry business.

$Intel(INTC.US) is about to break $100

Here are the four core drivers behind the stock's surge:

Q1 earnings report far exceeded expectations ("Monster Beat")

Intel's just-released earnings report shows a significant improvement in its financial condition, surpassing Wall Street's highest expectations:

Non-GAAP EPS: Recorded $0.29, well above the analyst consensus of $0.01.

Revenue: Reached $13.58 billion (up 7% year-over-year), higher than the expected $12.42 billion.

Six consecutive quarters of meeting or exceeding guidance: This is the sixth consecutive quarter Intel has exceeded the upper end of its guidance, demonstrating that its transformation plan is yielding tangible results.

AI inference demand driving a CPU renaissance

CEO Lip-Bu Tan emphasized during the earnings call that AI is shifting from the "training" phase to "inference" and "edge AI":

DCAI (Data Center and AI) division: Revenue grew 22% year-over-year ($5.1 billion).

Xeon 6 processors: Performed strongly in large-scale deployments, particularly through partnerships with Alphabet and Nvidia, proving CPUs remain indispensable infrastructure in the AI era.

Gaudi 3 accelerators: Order volumes continue to climb on cloud platforms like AWS and IBM.

Intel Foundry milestone: Securing major clients like Tesla

Intel's foundry business has finally reached an inflection point:

Tesla order: Elon Musk confirmed Tesla will adopt Intel's most advanced 14A (1.4nm) process in its Terafab project to produce AI chips for autonomous driving and robotics.

18A process mass production: The Intel 18A node has entered high-volume manufacturing. Its performance-enhanced version, 18A-P, stole the show at the VLSI 2026 symposium (9% performance boost, 50% thermal conductivity improvement), attracting strong interest from Apple, AMD, Google, and Nvidia.

Advanced packaging demand: Due to tight global AI chip capacity, Intel's Advanced Packaging is becoming the preferred choice for giants like Google and Amazon.

Valuation recovery and analyst upgrades

After years of sluggish performance, investors view this rally as a catch-up play:

Analyst upgrades: Freedom Broker aggressively raised its price target from $25 to $100, while Evercore ISI gave a $111 target, calling it an "AI-driven CPU renaissance."

National strategy support: With the US government's focus on domestic supply chains, Intel Foundry is seen as a "national asset," continuously receiving funding support from the CHIPS Act.

Summary:

INTC's new high is the result of technological leadership (18A/14A) + major clients (Tesla/Google) + financial turnaround combined. The market is beginning to believe Intel is no longer just a "follower" but a core supplier in the AI infrastructure revolution.