Shares of Intel Corporation (NASDAQ: INTC) inches up in pre session on Friday as the Wall Street has been persuaded by Intel that its data center processor roadmap is on track. Also, the chipmaker claims to be active in the rapidly expanding artificial intelligence business. On the announcement, Intel stock increased.
Intel provided analysts with an update on its data center processor lineup on Wednesday during an investor event. Officials said that the Granite Rapids-codenamed next-generation Xeon server CPU from Intel is around three months ahead of schedule.
The third quarter of 2024 will see the introduction of the 7-nanometer chip. One billionth of a meter, or nanometers, are used to describe the width of circuits on semiconductors. In a letter to clients, UBS analyst Timothy Arcuri wrote, “The minor pull-in of Granite should drive a bit more confidence in the product pipeline.” He has a 29-percent price target on Intel stock and grades it as neutral.
Intel also revealed details of its successor processor, known as Clearwater Forest. Granite Rapids will be replaced by the 5-nanometer-scale processor in 2025, according to Intel.
The manufacture of Intel’s Sapphire Rapids server CPUs is currently ramping up. Also, it is testing out its Sierra Forest and Emerald Rapids chips, which will be on sale in the first and second halves of 2024, respectively.
Evercore ISI analyst C.J. Muse wrote in a note to clients, “This was a great event with roadmap progress plainly encouraging—though plenty of execution risks remains.” He has a 30 dollar price target on Intel stock and grades it as neutral or in line.
During the occasion, Intel declared its intention to enter the artificial intelligence sector with its FPGA semiconductors and AI accelerators. By 2027, Intel expects the total addressable market potential for silicon used in data centers and AI to surpass $110 billion. Almost $40 billion more than in 2022.
Blayne Curtis, a Barclays analyst, claimed that Intel is “on the outside looking in” on AI. In a letter to customers, he predicted that AMD and Nvidia graphics processors will overtake its central processing units in the AI sector. With a 27 price target, he assigns Intel stock an equal weight, or neutral, rating. After the incident, Hans Mosesmann of Rosenblatt Securities maintained his sell rating on Intel shares.
In a message to clients, Mosesmann stated, “We see Intel 1-2 years behind AMD in CPU (central processing unit) architecture/process, and at least as much in GPUs.”
