US Stocks Movement | Intel Rises Over 1% Pre-market as Citi Says It Enters "Window Period" for AI Chip Foundry

Glonghui, January 16｜Intel (INTC.US) rose 1.35% pre-market to $48.97. In terms of news, Citigroup raised Intel's rating on Thursday from “Sell” to “Neutral,” with a target price set at $50. Citigroup analysts pointed out that Intel will benefit from the tight advanced packaging capacity at TSMC. In addition, Intel “has a unique window of opportunity to attract foundry wafer customers with government support.” “With the yield improvement of Intel’s 18A - P/14A process, we believe Intel will be the first to benefit from the spillover effect brought by AI-specific integrated circuits (such as TPUs) in the back-end, which will then extend to the front-end foundry customer area.” UBS also indicated that it expects Intel’s fourth-quarter results to rise due to strong demand for personal computers and servers, and believes that the market’s expectations for the company’s guidance for the current fiscal quarter ending March are reasonable. The bank expects Intel’s outlook for this year to be mixed but gradually improving, as the current quarter should be the most severe period of capacity issues. Historical experience shows that rising memory prices will suppress some of the positive momentum in the short-term PC market. The bank raised its target price for Intel from $40 to $49, maintaining a “Neutral” rating. (Glonghui)