Intel Corp (NASDAQ:INTC) shares are trading higher by 2.5% in tandem with its semiconductor peers during Wednesday’s premarket session as traders lean into a firmer tech tone and U.S.-China chip headlines keep semiconductors in focus.
The move is also consistent with a market backdrop where Nasdaq is leading early, with QQQ up 0.57% in premarket trading
The latest chip-policy headline centers on NVIDIA Corp (NASDAQ:NVDA) CEO Jensen Huang joining President Donald Trump‘s China delegation after Trump personally called to invite him, with a source saying Huang flew to Alaska to board Air Force One. The discussions are framed around pushing China to further open to U.S. businesses, while U.S. restrictions on advanced AI chip sales to China remain a key overhang for the industry. Analysts said China remains a critical market for Intel as booming demand for AI infrastructure tightens server-CPU supplies and pushes prices higher.
KeyBanc analyst John Vinh said rising AI-driven server demand continued supporting the chipmaker, even as cloud providers phased out older systems. He noted that near-term momentum favored Intel, driven by stronger Granite Rapids deployments at Amazon.com Inc (NASDAQ:AMZN) Amazon Web Services, and growing adoption of newer Intel server chips. Meanwhile, Reuters reported that China contributes more than 20% of Intel’s revenue, making the country especially important as shortages hit fourth- and fifth-generation Xeon processors.