High-profile investors are increasingly favoring Intel Corporation (INTC) over Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) in the semiconductor race. Paul Pelosi, husband of former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, recently disclosed a multi-million-dollar position in Intel through long-dated call options. Meanwhile, former hedge fund manager Jim Cramer has named Intel his top AI chip pick for 2026. These endorsements come amid a broader tech rally that has seen Intel shares surge over 220% year-to-date.
Intel's Foundry Edge Over AMD
The key differentiator making Intel a more compelling long-term bet than AMD lies in its dual identity as both a chip designer and a contract manufacturer. AMD operates on a fabless model, relying heavily on Taiwan Semiconductor (TSMC) for production—a dependency that exposes it to geopolitical risks. In contrast, Intel is building a localized supply chain through its Intel Foundry division, which is scaling advanced 18A nodes domestically with support from federal subsidies and strategic investments from companies like Nvidia and SoftBank.
This positioning transforms Intel into a crucial sovereign foundry, providing a geopolitical safety net and multi-year revenue pipelines that pure-play designers like AMD lack. As noted in our coverage of Intel's 18A-P chip milestone, the company's manufacturing comeback is gaining momentum.
AI Inference: A Structural Shift
While AMD has focused on chasing Nvidia in the AI GPU arena, Intel is capitalizing on a structural market shift: the industry pivot from AI model training to inference—the execution phase of AI workloads. As enterprise AI transitions toward continuous orchestration and edge devices, high-performance central processing units (CPUs) have become critical. Intel maintains a dominant share in the global server and PC CPU ecosystems, and its Xeon processors have been selected to host Nvidia's flagship hardware, positioning Intel to capture high-margin inference infrastructure spend.
This aligns with recent analyst upgrades, such as the BofA upgrade to a $135 target on AI CPU demand.
Near-Term Volatility and Long-Term Outlook
Intel shares are currently experiencing a sell-off, down roughly 8% at the time of writing amid a broader tech pullback. However, this weakness appears structural rather than fundamental, driven by quarter-end institutional rebalancing and profit-taking. For long-term investors, this dip may represent a buying opportunity to acquire a core AI infrastructure asset at a discount.
Cantor Fitzgerald analysts recently raised their price target on Intel to $150, implying potential upside of another 17% from current levels. However, the stock remains unsuitable for income-focused investors as it does not currently pay a dividend.
For context on Intel's recent momentum, see our report on Intel shares hitting a record $141.45 on Apple chip deal reports.
This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute financial advice.
