A pair of new reports emerged about upcoming Intel (INTC) chips that might have provided a lot of hope for the new releases. However, investors did not take it the same way, and INTC stock responded accordingly. Indeed, shares were down over 5% in Thursday afternoon’s trading as a result.
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The latest report notes that the Xeon CPU—at least the Diamond Rapids variant—will come with a huge LGA 9324 socket. The socket will reportedly approach 10,000 contacts (connections between the CPU and the socket) and will represent the largest socket ever made in support of the Diamond Rapids processor.
Meanwhile, the LGA 7529 socket will also be a beast in its own right, boasting 7,529 gold contact pads and offering support for either the 128 core Xeon 6900P processor, the “Granite Rapids” variant, or the 288 core Xeon 6900E processor, the “Sierra Forest” version. And that’s not all; Intel is currently working on its next version of the socket, which will turn an eye toward the future and deliver even better results, reports suggest.
It Does Not Stop There
That was not all Intel had to reveal. New reports suggest the Arrow Lake processor line could be hitting store shelves as early as October 17. That is actually sooner than expected and makes them potentially available as part of the holiday shopping season. While there were concerns previously that Intel might have delayed the Arrow Lake launch to later in the fourth quarter—potentially missing holiday shopping—the new reports are looking for sooner rather than later.
This also helps significantly, as Intel is in a better position to tackle AMD (AMD), whose Ryzen 9000 chips just emerged weeks ago. Given that some, based on a Techradar report, find the Ryzen 9000 disappointing, that’s a real opportunity for Intel to pull ahead in the home computing market.
Is Intel a Buy, Hold, or Sell?
Turning to Wall Street, analysts have a Hold consensus rating on INTC stock based on one Buy, 24 Holds, and five Sells assigned in the past three months, as indicated by the graphic below. After a 39.15% loss in its share price over the past year, the average INTC price target of $27.80 per share implies 37.76% upside potential.
