Intel Soars After Surprising Apple Update

Shares of Intel (INTC)  are up more than 13% on Tuesday morning in response to a report by Bloomberg News that Apple (AAPL)  has held exploratory talks with both Intel and Samsung Electronics  (SSNLF)  to possibly manufacture processors here in the U.S. This would provide clientele with an alternative to Taiwan Semiconductor (TSM) .

These discussions are said to still be in the early stages, with no orders having yet been placed. Apple executives are reported to have also visited Samsung’s Texas facility, which is still under development. In addition, the firm is believed to have concerns over chips created using non-TSMC technology, and Taiwan Semi is still building out its facility in Arizona.

Traditionally, Apple has designed the advanced processors that power its consumer devices, referred to as systems-on-a-chip and relied upon Taiwan Semi to build them using their high-end production processes in Taiwan. TSM's Arizona plants cannot yet manufacture the most advanced chips. Apple's latest iPhones, iPads and Macs use what is known as the 3-nanometer fabrication node.

Two Weeks Ago...

Intel reported the firm's first quarter financial results. Readers may recall that Intel blew Wall Street away with an adjusted EPS of $0.29 on revenue of $13.577 billion. The adjusted EPS print beat Wall Street by a whopping 28 cents per share, while the sales print beat the consensus view by more than $1 billion. That top-line number was also good for year-over-year growth of 7.2%. This was easily the strongest annual sales growth performance for Intel for any single quarter in two years' time. The adjustments made were made primarily for restructuring charges.

The guidance provided was very strong. For the quarter now in progress, Intel is projecting net revenue of $13.8 billion to $14.8 billion. Wall Street had been looking for something down around $13.05 billion. The firm is also projecting current quarter gross margin of 37.5% (GAAP) or 39% (adjusted) and an EPS of $0.08 (GAAP) or $0.20 (adjusted). This guidance crushed Wall Street's consensus expectations and the stock took off. The shares had been in rally mode since late March and the run hasn't stopped.

The Chart​

Readers can see that INTC had developed a basing period of consolidation that ran into late December 2025 before breaking out and developing a new "flat base" that ran into early April 2026. We discussed this two weeks ago. Early in April, the shares retook both their 21-day EMA and 50-day SMA. That's what forced both swing traders and portfolio managers to move the football in the same direction.

Moving on to the indicators, relative strength is crazy hot, as in it's technically overbought by a significant margin. Below the chart, the daily MACD is postured more than just bullishly. The histogram of the nine-day EMA is well above the zero-bound as are both the 12-day EMA and the 26-day EMA. In fact, they're in the stratosphere. Getting the algos even more fired up, that black line is running well above that gold line and still pulling away.

My Situation 

I am long Taiwan Semiconductor. OK. I still think that this is a smart investment. Now for the not so hot news. I am short Intel. Not a lot. I covered half of my position at a profit on the Tuesday after earnings. Thank goodness, because I am getting my tail handed to me on the other half. I would not cover my short on this spike, but I do admit that a long play two weeks ago would have been a far better idea than what I did. 

Less than 3% of the INTC float is held in short positions so I don't think there's much of a squeeze in play. I am going to re-short the portion that I had covered lower and increase my net basis. I'm not willing to get hurt badly on this one. My industry longs in Advance Micro Devices (AMD) , Micron (MU)  and SanDisk (SNDK)  are carrying the Sarge-folio this Spring, and I do not want to wash my winners with a nasty loser. This stock trades above $112 and I'll pack it in.

Related: How U.S. Investors Can Profit After Crazy Day for Japanese Yen

At the time of publication, Guilfoyle was long TSM, AMD, MU and SNDK equity and short INTC equity.