While the 18A node is likely to produce the short-term wins for chip stock Intel (INTC), the 14A node is also starting to get attention. And early word suggests that customers are quite pleased with how some of the early tests are going with the 18A line. Investors are just as happy to hear it as the potential customers were to see it. In fact, investors were sufficiently pleased to send Intel stock surging up over 8% in Tuesday afternoon’s trading.
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Intel Foundry’s future is largely dependent on how well 14A works, and by extension, Intel’s future depends a lot on how well Intel Foundry works going forward. The good news there is that 14A, which is set for release in 2027, seems to be doing the job, and quite well. Word from Moor Insights and Strategy analyst Patrick Moorhead notes that customers are very pleased.
“Intel customers I’ve spoken to who have seen this node say that 14A is the real deal,” Moorhead elaborated. In fact, he went so far as to say “It should be highly competitive not only in the datacenter and PC markets but also in mobile chips, which marks an important shift for the company.” But even without 14A, it turns out that 18A is also winning quite a bit of support. Over 30,000 wafers in a single quarter have been manufactured with 18A so far, and manufacturing for a single layer dropped from 40 steps to fewer than 10. That is another big win for Intel, which sorely needs big wins.
The Ongoing Wei-Jen Lo Kerfuffle
Meanwhile, reports note that the battle over former Intel executive / former TSMC (TSM) executive / current Intel executive (again) Wei-Jen Lo is starting to heat up. Reports suggest that not only is there an issue of what Lo likely took with him when leaving TSMC, there are also issues with how he left.
Lo reportedly did not tell anyone at TSMC that he was leaving for Intel. Rather, he actually told the company’s lawyers he was planning to work at an “academic institution,” reports noted. But with Lip-Bu Tan declaring that there was nothing to the allegations TSMC brought forward in the wake of Lo’s departure, it is clear the whole issue will not be resolved any time soon.
Is Intel a Buy, Hold or Sell?
Turning to Wall Street, analysts have a Hold consensus rating on INTC stock based on three Buys, 25 Holds and six Sells assigned in the past three months, as indicated by the graphic below. After a 78.06% rally in its share price over the past year, the average INTC price target of $36.07 per share implies 16.7% downside risk.
