Chip stock Intel (NASDAQ:INTC) is fighting hard to maintain its relevance as Nvidia (NASDAQ:NVDA) pushes for dominance in the growing artificial intelligence (AI) market. Now, Intel’s got a new tool to advance that fight, and shareholders rewarded it with a fractional boost in share prices in Tuesday afternoon’s trading.
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Known as the Gaudi 3 accelerator, it will help push AI systems along with a new and powerful infrastructure. Intel showed the chip off at its latest Intel Vision 2024 conference, revealing that the Gaudi 3 worked with Ethernet connectivity to connect thousands of accelerators together. And when Intel started comparing its new chip directly to Nvidia’s, the picture only got clearer.
As it turns out, the Gaudi 3 offers 50% better inference, on average, and improves over the Nvidia H100’s power efficiency by 40%. Best of all, the Gaudi 3 is a lower-cost chip, which makes it a compelling candidate for future AI builds.
Fortnite Troubles
Here’s where things get a little weird, however. Apparently, the latest Intel chips are having some trouble running Unreal Engine games, which, as gamers well know, is a large chunk of the market. Intel is currently investigating that problem, and Epic Games, maker of “Fortnite,” has already issued notice for Intel i913900K and i914900K owners to adjust their BIOS settings.
Is Intel a Buy, Hold, or Sell?
Turning to Wall Street, analysts have a Hold consensus rating on INTC stock based on five Buys, 24 Holds, and four Sells assigned in the past three months, as indicated by the graphic below. After an 18.54% rally in its share price over the past year, the average INTC price target of $45.05 per share implies 18.4% upside potential.
