The answer to that shocking question posed by the headline is somewhat yes. At least, that’s what the last round through the rumor mill is suggesting. It’s a little more complex than that in reality, as so many things are, but chip maker Intel (NASDAQ:INTC) having a hand in Nvidia’s (NASDAQ:NVDA) next big chip is giving Intel a bit of a boost, which is up modestly in Tuesday afternoon’s trading.
We knew that Nvidia was looking into a new PC chip, which was going to be part of a larger push into AI PCs. That, in turn, could have been a problem for Intel, whose bread-and-butter market for decades has been the home PC market. However, the new reports suggest that Nvidia’s PC chip will actually depend heavily on Intel components.
Specifically, the new Nvidia chip is said to turn to ARM Cortex X5 cores as well as Blackwell GPU cores. And Intel’s foundry operations would be involved in making those cores accordingly. So, while this will be a serious hit to some of Intel’s business—particularly anything having to do with an X86 chip—it’s also pretty clear that hit will be ameliorated by being a supplier to Nvidia, who may be taking over at least some of that market itself.
Intel Is Making a Push into Quantum Computing
Meanwhile, the x86 chip’s importance may be waning for a whole other reason, as Intel is making a greater push into quantum computing. In fact, a rising number of hedge funds are putting weight behind Intel as a likely leader going forward in the quantum computing space. Just in the first quarter of 2024, Intel had 77 different hedge funds with some degree of backing behind it. Earlier this month, Intel also announced that it was making a significant play into “spin-based quantum processors,” and hedge funds seem to believe Intel could pull off such a job.
Is Intel a Buy, Hold, or Sell?
Turning to Wall Street, analysts have a Hold consensus rating on INTC stock based on three Buys, 26 Holds, and three Sells assigned in the past three months, as indicated by the graphic below. After a 4.97% rally in its share price over the past year, the average INTC price target of $37.87 per share implies 22.32% upside potential.
