Intel (INTC) Stock Falls 3% After Key Foundry Executive Departs for Qualcomm

TLDR

• Intel (INTC) dropped ~3% on Thursday to $45.46, with trading volume down 41% from average
• Kevin O’Buckley, SVP and GM of Intel Foundry Services, left for Qualcomm as VP of global operations and supply chain
• Intel announced a collaboration with AI-chip startup SambaNova around its SN50 inference chip
• Analysts hold a consensus “Hold/Reduce” rating with an average price target of around $45.74–$48.21
• Intel reported Q4 EPS of $0.15, beating estimates, but still carries negative margins and weak forward guidance

Intel (INTC) fell close to 3% on Thursday, dropping to $45.46 after closing the previous session at $46.88. Trading volume came in at around 71 million, roughly 41% below its daily average.

Intel Corporation, INTC

The sell-off was largely tied to one piece of news: Kevin O’Buckley, Intel’s senior vice president and general manager of Intel Foundry Services, has left the company.

O’Buckley has taken a role at Qualcomm as vice president of global operations and supply chain. It’s a straight jump from one chip giant to another, and markets didn’t take it well.

Intel also thanked O’Buckley publicly, wishing him well. The exact reasons for his departure haven’t been disclosed.

One theory floating around is that O’Buckley previously reported directly to CEO Lip-Bu Tan. With the restructuring of Intel Foundry, that reporting line changed to Chandrasekaran. Whether that shift played a role is unconfirmed.

Intel’s AI Inference Push

Not all the week’s news was bad. Intel announced a collaboration with AI-chip startup SambaNova around its new SN50 inference chip. Intel is also participating in SambaNova’s financing round.

The deal puts Intel closer to the AI inference market, which analysts see as a fast-growing, higher-margin opportunity. The move signals Intel is actively trying to find its footing in AI hardware beyond its traditional CPU business.

On the earnings front, Intel posted Q4 EPS of $0.15, beating the consensus estimate of $0.08. Revenue came in at $13.67 billion, above the $13.37 billion analysts expected. That said, revenue was still down 4.2% year-over-year.

The picture gets murkier forward. Intel set its Q1 2026 EPS guidance at zero, and analysts expect the company to post -$0.11 EPS for the full fiscal year. Negative net margins and negative return on equity remain in place.

Nvidia Eyes Intel’s Turf

There’s another competitive pressure building. Nvidia, which made a $5 billion investment in Intel back in December, is now pushing into the CPU market — the space Intel has long called home.

As AI companies shift from training models to deploying them, CPU demand is picking up. Nvidia wants a piece of that.

On the analyst side, the picture is mixed. Tigress Financial has a Buy rating with a $66 price target. Wedbush sits at the other end with a Neutral and a $30 target. UBS set a $51 target. The consensus across MarketBeat sits at “Reduce” with a $45.74 price target, while TipRanks puts the average at $48.21 based on recent ratings.

Insider activity has been a two-way street. EVP David Zinsner bought nearly $250,000 worth of stock in late January. EVP April Miller sold $981,000 worth of stock in early February.

Institutional investors hold 64.53% of INTC. The stock’s 50-day moving average sits at $44.26, and its 200-day moving average is $37.07.

The average analyst price target of $48.21 implies roughly 6.67% upside from current levels.

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