NEW YORK, Feb 26, 2026, 06:56 EST — Premarket
- Intel shares pulled back in premarket trading, losing momentum after two days of gains.
- Keep an eye on Intel’s partnership with SambaNova targeting AI inference. Nvidia’s latest maneuver has chipmakers watching closely.
- Traders are eyeing U.S. data set to land later this week, keeping a close watch ahead of the cash session’s open.
Shares of Intel Corp (INTC) were down 0.7% to $46.54 in early premarket action Thursday, based on quotes at 6:07 a.m. ET. A day earlier, the stock closed out up 1.65% at $46.88.
Intel’s snag comes at a tough time. The company is betting big on “inference”—that’s the part of the AI cycle where models get put to work, not just trained. But with investors suddenly more selective about who really profits from the AI boom, the mood has shifted. No more patience for capex without payback; chipmakers now face sharper scrutiny.
U.S. stock index futures showed little direction ahead of the open, with Nvidia’s stronger-than-expected earnings failing to spark much follow-through. “Markets are now moving into a phase where they want to see tangible results of AI monetization,” said Raffi Boyadjian, lead market analyst at Trading Point. Reuters
Intel’s shifting strategy shows up in the latest move by SambaNova Systems, the AI chip startup that just landed $350 million in fresh capital. Vista Equity Partners and Cambium Capital led the round, with Intel Capital joining in. SambaNova also locked in a multi-year agreement with Intel, aiming for more affordable AI inference products. SoftBank Corp is set to become the first to deploy SambaNova’s SN50 chip inside its Japanese AI data centers.
“AI is no longer a contest to build the biggest model,” said Rodrigo Liang, co-founder and CEO of SambaNova. Kevork Kechichian, head of Intel’s data-center unit, noted customers are shifting focus: it’s “more choice and more efficient ways to scale AI” they’re asking for, not just the GPUs that have been central to most AI tasks until now. Sambanova
Intel is pitching the partnership around its Xeon-based infrastructure, calling it a rack-scale fix for inference workloads until its own GPU options mature. The company stressed the arrangement hasn’t shifted its stance on AI competition, and said investment in both GPU hardware and software will keep flowing.
Things aren’t getting any easier out there. Nvidia boss Jensen Huang told analysts Wednesday, “We love CPUs as well as GPUs,” as Nvidia pushes deeper into CPUs—long the domain of Intel and AMD. Ben Bajarin at Creative Strategies noted that AI “agents” are leaning more on CPUs these days. Reuters
Nvidia posted a 94% surge in revenue to $68.13 billion and now sees sales this quarter landing at $78 billion, well above the $72.60 billion consensus. Still, the stock barely moved after hours. In the AI race, even numbers like these can leave investors unmoved.
Intel shares have managed to recover some losses but are still trading about 14% below the 52-week high of $54.60 reached on Jan. 22. Trading volume on Wednesday was 74.4 million shares, well below the 50-day average, MarketWatch data show.
The SambaNova deal is just getting started, and investors have little tolerance for holdups or fuzzy revenue outlooks. If sentiment turns and the crowd decides AI infrastructure budgets are topping out, Intel’s run-up this week could fade fast once markets open again.
U.S. initial jobless claims land at 8:30 a.m. ET Thursday, giving traders a fresh read on the labor market. Friday brings the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ January Producer Price Index, scheduled for 8:30 a.m. ET, Feb. 27. Intel’s focus remains on the 9:30 a.m. cash open, no surprise there.
