Intel Corporation (INTC.US) has seen a significant increase in chip performance with the 18A manufacturing process, prompting Melius to upgrade their rating to "buy."

Intel Corporation (INTC.US) stock price rose by 6.5% on Wednesday after the company announced yesterday that it has successfully delivered the first batch of products using the 18A manufacturing process. Specifically, it is a chip called Panther Lake from Intel Corporation's Core Ultra Series 3. Melius Research has upgraded Intel Corporation's rating from "hold" to "buy" and set a target price of $50. Intel Corporation's first Panther Lake product line - Core Ultra Series 3, will power over 200 PC architectures. Pre-orders started on January 6th and will be launched globally on January 27th. More design plans will be released in the first half of 2026. Advanced computing systems powered by Intel Corporation's Core Ultra Series 3 will begin shipping in the first quarter of 2026. The computing power of Core Ultra Series 3 is up to 180 TOPS, capable of processing 700 billion parameter models. Considering the challenges of cloud computing in performance, privacy, security, cost-effectiveness, and data control, this series of chips provides strong support for localized computing. Melius analyst Ben Reitzes wrote in an investor report, "We greatly appreciate Chen Liwu, but more importantly, important figures such as President Trump, Secretary Lutenik, Huang Renxun, and even Su Zifeng value his worth as a business partner." Intel Corporation also confirmed this week that it is developing a new processor dedicated to gaming, as well as a new gaming platform that includes hardware and software.