New York, March 2, 2026, 11:23 (EST) — Trading during the regular session.
- Intel slipped roughly 1% by late morning, trailing some other chip stocks that saw gains.
- Ericsson and Intel said they’re expanding their “AI-native 6G” partnership, news that surfaced as MWC Barcelona got underway.
- Investors want to see additional customer details out of the show, with Intel’s next investor event set for March 4.
Intel Corp (INTC.O) edged down nearly 1% Monday, lagging other chip names as traders weighed its most recent telecom play against a choppy session. Shares shed $0.46 to trade at $45.15 by 11:10 a.m. EST, after ranging from $43.95 to $45.81. Nvidia added 2.1%, while AMD ticked up 2.7%. 1
MWC Barcelona kicked off Monday and continues until March 5, drawing attention to the next round of carrier spending and where the industry is headed after 5G. Intel, for its part, is looking to broaden its image—from a key player in PCs and classic servers to a heavyweight in network compute as well. 2
Oil’s sharp rally, fueled by worsening tensions in the Middle East, has rattled markets and put inflation jitters back on the table, stoking concerns for growth stocks. “The market will be trying to ascertain how long the conflict will last,” said Michael Field, chief European equity strategist at Morningstar. Investors now have an eye on a series of U.S. releases this week, with Friday’s payrolls report looming. 3
Ericsson (ERIC.O) and Intel announced plans to combine their technology, aiming to accelerate the shift from 6G research to commercial networks based on an “AI-native” design—meaning artificial intelligence is built into the core of the system. Their collaboration targets the radio access network, or RAN—the link between devices and cell towers—the packet core, which directs data traffic, and extends to “edge” computing, pushing resources closer to the user. Ericsson CEO Börje Ekholm described 6G as “the infrastructure that will distribute AI across devices, the edge and the cloud.” Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan, for his part, said coming network connectivity should be “open, power-efficient, secure” and fundamentally rooted in AI inference. 4
Intel’s data-center boss Kevork Kechichian says network operators are pushing for AI built directly into the network, but not if it means ripping out their current setups. He warns that putting GPUs first across the board can actually add expense and make things messier—especially for telco workloads focused on inference, where trained AI models generate real-time decisions. 5
The stakes for Intel are clear: the company has to convince investors it’s got a path to fresh growth and can turn new partnerships into real revenue sooner rather than later. Back in January, Intel admitted it fell short of demand for AI data center server chips and projected first-quarter revenue and earnings below what analysts had hoped for. 6
Still, supply issues haven’t gone away—and they’re enough to overshadow any positive signals from MWC. Intel and AMD have notified certain customers in China about server CPU shortages, according to sources familiar with the matter who spoke to Reuters. For some Intel products, delivery lead times have ballooned to as long as six months. 7
At the moment, traders are keyed in on potential new customer deals or technical specifics from MWC, plus any signs that Intel’s “right compute for the workload” message gets through to carriers. The next notable event comes March 4, when CFO David Zinsner is set for a fireside chat at the Morgan Stanley Technology, Media & Telecom Conference at 8:30 a.m. PT. Intel plans to stream the session. 8
Outside of the MWC buzz running through March 5, the stock’s direction looks pinned to the broader market: oil swings, war news, and Friday’s U.S. payrolls are all in play. Watch for any fresh indication on server CPU supply—whether it’s easing or tightening—that could quickly reshape sentiment around Intel shares heading into week’s end.
