Intel’s Stock Skyrockets 24% in Single Day: Best Performance Since 1987
Intel Corporation delivered an impressive performance on Friday, April 25, 2026, with shares surging 24% in what marked the chipmaker’s best single-day performance since October 1987. This rally was triggered by the company’s first-quarter earnings that significantly exceeded Wall Street expectations.
The Santa Clara-based semiconductor giant reported adjusted earnings per share of $0.29, crushing analyst estimates of just $0.01. Revenue came in at $13.58 billion, beating the consensus forecast of $12.42 billion by nearly $1.2 billion. The driving force behind much of this growth was Intel’s data center and AI division, with revenue jumping 22% year-over-year to $5.1 billion.
CEO Lip-Bu Tan emphasized the growing importance of central processing units (CPUs) in the AI era, calling them an “indispensable foundation” as artificial intelligence workloads expand beyond GPU-based model training to inference applications. The company also provided strong second-quarter guidance, projecting revenue between $13.8 billion and $14.8 billion, well above analyst expectations of $13.07 billion.
The remarkable turnaround has pushed Intel’s stock up more than 80% year-to-date. However, some analysts caution that valuations have become stretched following the rally. The strong results validate the company’s strategic pivot toward AI-driven data center products and advanced manufacturing capabilities.
Source: CNBC