Intel Corporation (NASDAQ: INTC) heads into the new trading week facing more than just Thursday’s 5.25% slide. Since its June 30 high, the stock has lost around $112 billion in market cap, wiping out much of the value gained on hopes for a faster server CPU cycle and foundry business shift.
U.S. markets are closed Friday for the Independence Day holiday. Nasdaq’s 2026 schedule marks July 3 as a trading holiday. Regular hours resume Monday, July 6, from 9:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. ET.
Intel finished Thursday at $120.35, down from Wednesday’s $127.02 close. Shares traded between $117.63 and $130.74 during the session. The stock’s 52-week high is $142.35. With 5.083 billion weighted average common shares outstanding (per Q1 filing), each $1 move in Intel equates to roughly $5.1 billion in market cap.
The sell-off wasn’t isolated. The PHLX Semiconductor Index dropped 4.4% from June 26 to July 2, sliding to 12,626.22 from 13,203.57. Intel shares fell 6.2% in the same period, based on the June 26 close of $128.32 and Thursday’s $120.35 finish.
Broader markets were mixed. The Dow Jones Industrial Average hit a record close of 52,900.07, up 1.14% Thursday. The Nasdaq Composite fell 0.80% as chip stocks tumbled, with the semiconductor index down 5.4%.
Intel shares declined despite a bullish note from HSBC Holdings plc (NYSE: HSBC). Analyst Frank Lee raised his price target to $200 from $100, maintaining a Buy rating. Lee incorporated Intel Foundry into his sum-of-the-parts valuation, boosted his 2026 server CPU growth forecast to 25% from 20%, and now expects 2027 data center and AI revenue to come in 20% above consensus.
“Intel is well positioned to deliver upside to 2026/27 server CPU shipments, driven by internal foundry capacity reallocation,” Lee wrote in a note quoted by Invezz.
Investors appear to be waiting for concrete numbers. In Q1, Intel reported Data Center and AI revenue up 22% to $5.1 billion, and Intel Foundry jumped 16% to $5.4 billion. The company guided Q2 revenue between $13.8 billion and $14.8 billion, with non-GAAP EPS of $0.20.
CEO Lip-Bu Tan said in April that the shift from basic AI models to inference and agentic AI is “significantly increasing the need for Intel’s CPUs and wafer and advanced packaging offerings.” CFO David Zinsner noted the company remains focused on “maximizing our factory network to improve available supply and meet our customers’ needs throughout the year.”
Intel has five trading days to build a new base before earnings risk intensifies. The company reports Q2 results after the close on July 23, with the earnings call scheduled for 2 p.m. PDT.
