Has Apple (AAPL) invested in chip stock Intel (INTC)? If you believe recent remarks made by no less than a sitting president, yes, it has. President Trump recently mentioned as much during a press event, though some wonder if, perhaps, the mention was a mistake instead. The idea that Apple might have bought in on Intel stock was enough for other investors to flood in, and Intel shares gained over 3% in Wednesday afternoon’s trading.
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Trump recounted the story to a reporter who asked if the United States would be buying any more shares of Intel. While Trump was unsure if there would be more investment in Intel, he did note there would likely be more investment in other companies. The idea of a United States sovereign wealth fund has been advanced before, after all.
But then, Trump noted, “As soon as we went in, Apple went in, Nvidia (NVDA) went in, a lot of smart people went in—they followed us. So, yeah, we’re doing that deal.” That Nvidia went in was well-known already, but that Apple went in was much more of a surprise to the outside viewer. There were some reports earlier suggesting that Apple had taken an interest, but word about Apple actually signing checks was less available.
Watching the Celestials
Meanwhile, Intel’s upcoming line of graphics processing units, the Celestial lineup, is catching attention. The Battlemage line did a good job of paving the way, and now, the upcoming Celestials are especially closely watched.
Specifically, reports suggest that the Xe3P iGPU could be a significant boost in capability for the Nova Lake lineup. In fact, the combination of Nova Lake and the Xe3P iGPU could actually mean better graphics performance than the integrated graphics found on the Panther Lake lineup. Most of these projections are early word, generated mainly by leakers. The Nova Lake line will not arrive until 2027, reports note. Still, the early word is promising, and exciting enough to merit further consideration.
Is Intel a Buy, Hold or Sell?
Turning to Wall Street, analysts have a Hold consensus rating on INTC stock based on eight Buys, 17 Holds and five Sells assigned in the past three months, as indicated by the graphic below. After a 139.81% rally in its share price over the past year, the average INTC price target of $41.73 per share implies 13.89% downside risk.
