Intel jumps 8%, AMD rises 4% on BofA's $170 billion server-CPU call

Intel shares surged 8% to $115 and AMD rose 4% to $470 after Bank of America issued a bullish call on the $170 billion server-CPU market, calling it a structural growth opportunity tied to AI infrastructure buildout.

"The server-CPU market represents a $170 billion total addressable opportunity driven by AI inference workloads and data center refresh cycles," the Bank of America analyst team wrote in a note to clients Thursday. The analysts upgraded their outlook on both Intel and AMD, citing the shift from general-purpose computing to AI-optimized architectures.

Intel's gain pushed its market capitalization above $480 billion, extending a year-to-date advance of more than 190%. The stock has rallied sharply in 2026 on optimism about its foundry business and potential chipmaking deals with Google and Nvidia. AMD, which has gained about 35% this year, now trades at roughly 28 times forward earnings, a discount to Nvidia's multiple but a premium to Intel's.

The $170 billion estimate encompasses server CPUs used in cloud data centers, enterprise on-premise deployments, and edge computing installations. Bank of America expects AI inference — the process of running trained models — to account for an increasing share of server-CPU demand as companies deploy generative AI applications at scale. The call comes as the broader semiconductor sector recovers from a sharp selloff on June 5, when the PHLX Semiconductor Index fell more than 5% after a strong jobs report dashed hopes for interest-rate cuts.

The bullish call signals that institutional investors see server CPUs as a key beneficiary of AI infrastructure spending beyond the GPU-centric boom led by Nvidia. Both Intel and AMD are scheduled to report quarterly results in late July, with investors focused on data center revenue trends and forward guidance.

This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice.