Shares of Intel (NASDAQ:INTC | INTC Price Prediction) are up 8% to $115 and change in early Thursday trading, while Advanced Micro Devices (NASDAQ:AMD) stock is rising 4% to $470. Both chip names are rebounding after a rough stretch earlier this week.
The catalyst is a bullish Bank of America research note projecting the total addressable market for server CPUs could expand to roughly $170 billion by 2030, fueled by agentic AI workloads. The call lifted both stocks at the open and is rippling across semiconductor peers.
Intel stock now sits well above its 50-day moving average of $90.09, and AMD shares are clawing back ground after a steep pullback into Wednesday. The rebound is also being helped by traders adjusting portfolios ahead of the anticipated SpaceX IPO.
Bank of America’s Double Upgrade Drives Intel Higher
Bank of America issued a double-upgrade of Intel stock to a Buy rating, with a price target of $135, citing improved earnings forecasts, better market visibility, and projected growth in server CPU sales. That move builds on recent target hikes from Wells Fargo at $110 and Barclays at $100.
Intel’s fundamentals support the bullish framing. Q1 2026 revenue came in at $13.58 billion, up 7% year over year, with the Data Center and AI segment delivering $5.05 billion, up 22% year over year.
Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan stated, “The next wave of AI will bring intelligence closer to the end user, moving from foundational models to inference to agentic.” He confidently added, “This shift is significantly increasing the need for Intel’s CPUs and wafer and advanced packaging offerings.”
At the Bank of America conference, Intel CFO David Zinsner asserted that the “CPU market will experience explosive growth due to AI” and that Intel has “more than enough demand to significantly increase its data center revenue if it can ramp up supply.” He also flagged that the company’s 18A process node is “moving into commercial-scale production.”
AMD Rises on $560 Price Target, Data Center Strength
For AMD, Bank of America raised its price target to $560, highlighting AMD’s position in the AI-driven server market. The firm pointed to a 122% year-over-year increase in data-center revenue as evidence of accelerating share gains.
The latest results back the thesis. AMD’s Q1 2026 revenue came in at $10.25 billion, up 38% year over year, with the Data Center segment posting $5.78 billion, up 57% year over year on EPYC and Instinct strength. AMD captured 33% of the server CPU market in Q1 2026, up 6 percentage points year over year.
Advanced Micro Devices CEO Lisa Su declared, “We delivered an outstanding first quarter, driven by accelerating demand for AI infrastructure, with Data Center now the primary driver of our revenue and earnings growth.” AMD stock trades at a forward P/E ratio of 68x, reflecting elevated expectations baked into the price.
A Bounce After a Rough Stretch
The context matters for today’s share-price bounce. Intel stock pulled back sharply into Wednesday’s close, and AMD stock also retreated after a difficult run for the chip sector.
The broader semiconductor space was pressured earlier this week after Broadcom‘s (NASDAQ:AVGO) guidance miss, with Q3 AI chip guidance of $16 billion missing the $17.2 billion analyst expectation. Both Intel and AMD got caught in that wave, so today’s move recovers losses rather than breaking out to new highs.
Year to date, Intel stock is up 216% and AMD has gained 119%, so the longer-term momentum remains intact. That backdrop frames today’s bounce as a continuation of a broader uptrend rather than a one-off reaction.
Risks Still in the Frame
Intel faces stiff competition from Arm (NASDAQ:ARM)-based designs and custom silicon, and the company is still working through execution challenges in its manufacturing and foundry business. Analyst price targets are opinions, not guarantees.
Both Intel and AMD remain volatile names with betas above 2, meaning intraday swings can move sharply in either direction. The consensus analyst target on Intel stock sits at $92.17, well below where the stock is trading today, hinting that not every Wall Street desk shares Bank of America’s enthusiasm.
What to Watch
Investors may want to keep an eye on whether today’s gains hold into the close, and whether peers like NVIDIA (NASDAQ:NVDA) follow through with sympathy moves. Any reaction from other Wall Street desks to the Bank of America note could shape the next leg of the trade and dictate sector positioning into Friday.
The SpaceX IPO timeline and broader risk appetite are also worth tracking, since portfolio rotation can amplify or fade these moves quickly. Momentum traders may keep both tickers active through the afternoon as the Bank of America call works through investors’ portfolios.
Top Gaining Stocks
Top Losing Stocks