New York, Feb 24, 2026, 14:24 EST — Regular session
- Intel shares jumped close to 6% Tuesday after the company announced a multi-year AI partnership with SambaNova.
- Intel Capital is backing SambaNova in its Series E round, coming in as a new investor alongside the partnership.
- Intel’s CFO, David Zinsner, will address investors at a Morgan Stanley conference set for March 4.
Shares of Intel (INTC.O) jumped 5.9% to $46.21 on Tuesday, snapping a week of declines after news broke of a fresh artificial intelligence partnership for the chipmaker.
The rally carries some weight for Intel, which has been eager to prove it can snag a piece of AI demand beyond just training chips. Intel is teaming up with SambaNova on “AI inference” — that’s the phase where pre-trained models actually spit out answers for end users — built on top of its Xeon server processors. Intel Capital is also set to join SambaNova’s Series E funding round. Newsroom
Intel shares slid again Monday, wrapping up at $43.63—marking a fifth consecutive drop. The stock now trades roughly 20% off its 52-week peak from January.
SambaNova has pulled in over $350 million through its Series E round and rolled out its SN50 chip. SoftBank Corp. will be the first to use the chip in Japanese AI data centers. “Customers are asking for more choice and more efficient ways to scale AI,” said Kevork Kechichian, who leads Intel’s data center group. SambaNova
INTC swung from $43.56 up to $46.26 as sentiment shifted sharply through the session. About 71.6 million shares changed hands, based on Investing.com data.
Chip stocks found their footing on Tuesday, bouncing back from Monday’s drop as U.S. indexes climbed. Gains in tech and semiconductors helped lift the market.
Intel’s push into AI accelerators faces Nvidia’s overwhelming lead, while AMD keeps the pressure on its server CPU lineup. The company is banking on its Xeon base here, teaming up with a partner offering a different take from the typical GPU-centric setup.
Still, the partnership leaves Intel staring down the same challenge: can it move quickly enough as it battles with both supply headaches and manufacturing caps? Last month, the stock tumbled after Intel warned about ongoing supply issues and delivered a first-quarter forecast that fell short for investors hoping for steadier progress.
Visibility is another risk. Partnerships tend to grab headlines long before they generate meaningful revenue, and customers aren’t likely to switch their inference workloads without seeing proof: real-world performance, reliable supply, and transparent pricing.
Looking ahead, Intel’s CFO David Zinsner is slated to appear at the Morgan Stanley Technology, Media & Telecom Conference. His remarks kick off March 4 at 8:30 a.m. PT.
Traders are tuning in for fresh signals on data-center demand, updates on supply, and specifics about Intel’s AI stack strategy — first CPUs, GPUs to follow — as spending plans remain in flux.
