Intel Corporation delivered what analysts are calling its most consequential earnings report in more than two decades, sending shares rocketing as much as 25% in premarket trading Friday to approximately $83.50—the chipmaker's highest level since the dot-com era. The surge, which added roughly $240 billion in market capitalization, followed a Q1 2026 print that beat every line of the company's own guidance for the sixth consecutive quarter.
Intel recorded non-GAAP earnings per share of $0.29 on revenue of $13.58 billion, topping the average analyst estimate of $0.28 EPS on $12.43 billion in sales. Revenue grew 6.9% year over year, driven by a resurgent data-center segment and solid PC demand. The results extended what has become an impressive turnaround narrative under CEO Lip-Bu Tan.
Tesla's Terafab Catalyst
The real accelerant came from Tesla's own earnings call, where CEO Elon Musk confirmed that Tesla and SpaceX will use Intel's next-generation 14A chip manufacturing process for the Terafab semiconductor complex currently under construction in Austin, Texas. Musk said Tesla expects to spend "roughly $3 billion" with Intel on the project, providing a long-duration revenue anchor that analysts said changes their modeling assumptions for Intel's foundry business.
"This is precisely the kind of anchor customer Intel's foundry needed to prove its manufacturing renaissance is real," wrote Bernstein analyst Stacy Rasgon in a note Friday morning. "The combination of a sixth-straight earnings beat and a multi-billion-dollar design win makes this a genuine inflection point."
Stock Up 100% Year-to-Date
Intel shares have now doubled year-to-date, massively outperforming the Nasdaq Composite, which is up roughly 8% over the same period. The stock hit a record high after earnings, validating investors who loaded up on shares during the Hormuz-driven market selloff in March. Intel trades at approximately 22x forward earnings on current consensus estimates, which analysts expect to climb meaningfully after Friday's print.
The broader semiconductor sector joined the rally, with AMD, ASML, and TSMC all trading higher in sympathy. The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index (