Chip stock Intel (NASDAQ:INTC) has been in something of a come-from-behind mode for some time now. With competitors like AMD (NASDAQ:AMD) and Nvidia (NASDAQ:NVDA) stealing the limelight and the market share, it’s been tough to keep up. But now, Intel is firing up a whole new chip plant in an unexpected place: Ireland. Intel is fractionally up in Friday afternoon’s trading, suggesting that investors are at least mildly pleased.
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With the latest moves made, Intel’s Ireland facility has now started up extreme ultraviolet lithography production and is doing so at high volumes. Typically, the machines to carry out such processes can only be obtained from one firm in the Netherlands, ASML (NASDAQ:ASML). Some of these machines are said to be the size of a shipping container and tend to run around $150 million each, so bringing these into play is a large-scale commitment.
Naturally, that’s not all Intel has going on, but it’s clear that the production of the Irish plant is going to play a major role in getting Intel’s other innovations up and firing. With the Intel Innovation Show now in the history books, Intel showed off a wide array of products for an equally wide array of use cases designed to show customers where Intel can deliver support and capability. But with Intel already having trouble finding chipmaking employees in its German plant, that will likely put extra weight on the Irish plant to perform while the German plant spins up to speed. That could hurt Intel, at least in opportunity costs, in the short term.
Is Intel Stock a Hold or Sell?
Analysts are also somewhat skeptical. Intel stock is currently rated a Hold by analyst consensus, supported by six Buy, five Sell, and 20 Hold ratings. Further, with an average price target of $36.13, Intel stock offers investors a meager 2.58% upside potential.
