Chip stock Intel (INTC) has made no shortage of deals lately, between new customers and new partners working on new processes and new products. That is a lot of "new" in one place, so it should not come as a surprise that Intel has a whole new collaborative effort in the making. Intel got together with Lens Technology to produce new advanced packaging systems for semiconductors. The news fell oddly flat with shareholders, though, who sent Intel share prices falling nearly 6% in Friday afternoon's trading.

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The two companies are getting together to try and advance development of glass substrate packaging. Using glass substrate materials in this way, reports from Intel suggest, can help drive performance and efficiency gains alike. More powerful processors that are more readily made can be a huge help in the market, thus getting out in front of the competition and discovering just what impact glass substrate use can have might be a game-changer.

Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan noted, "Advanced packaging is becoming a critical driver of semiconductor innovation as AI systems continue to push the boundaries of performance, scale, and efficiency. Intel brings deep expertise in semiconductor architecture and advanced packaging technologies, while Lens Technology contributes world-class capabilities in precision glass processing, laser manufacturing, and large-scale production. Together, we have an opportunity to explore new approaches to advanced packaging that can help unlock the next generation of system-level innovation for the AI era."

Multithreading Comeback

Intel also made it clear that the practice of multithreading would be making a comeback with the release of the Coral Rapids chip line in 2028. Intel had been moving away from multithreading starting back in the 12th-gen Core CPU lineup, going over to asymmetrical designs instead. This left multithreading really only an option on performance cores.

But now, multithreading—specifically Intel's Hyper-Threading system—is set to make a comeback in about a year and a half, in 2028. Intel believes that single-thread improvement is still vital to pursue, but multithreading will be a necessary part of Intel's ability to compete going forward, reports noted.

Is Intel a Buy, Hold or Sell?

Turning to Wall Street, analysts have a Hold consensus rating on INTC stock based on eight Buys, 23 Holds and two Sells assigned in the past three months, as indicated by the graphic below. After a 384.2% rally in its share price over the past year, the average INTC price target of $119.04 per share implies 27.16% upside potential.