So the good news is that the Panther Lake chips from chip stock Intel (INTC) are now officially announced. Even better, the Arizona fabrication operations are also fully up and running. But despite these bits of good news, shareholders still backed off, and Intel stock is down fractionally in Thursday afternoon’s trading.
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The Panther Lake chips are a big step forward for Intel, as these are the first chips Intel has made under the 18A process. Currently, the 18A process node is the most advanced of its kind operating on United States soil, and already has something of a roadmap in place. Intel is already starting work on the 14A process to replace it, previous reports noted.
Intel already has plans for the chips made at the Arizona fab, as these will be going into Xeon 6+ servers that Intel also plans to build in Arizona. They will be available to end users starting in 2026. With Intel increasingly under pressure to deliver—especially considering how many different sources of funding it has received in the last few months—the rollout of Xeon 6+ servers, the Panther Lake chip lineup, and everything beyond will be watched particularly closely.
Arizona Live
While the arrival of Panther Lake chips is noteworthy in and of itself, the launch of the Arizona operations might be even bigger. Already a staggering operation that depends heavily on automation, the fab also offered some surprises. For instance, the air within the fab is recycled every six seconds to reduce the risk of airborne contaminants reaching the chips.
Intel is making quite a bit out of the fact that the Arizona operation is the most advanced chip manufacturing operation on the planet. But what will really tell the story is how well its chips sell, and how well they do once out in the wild. Intel needs sales right now, more than anything else. The only way it will get them is to create processors that customers want to use. Only time will tell if Intel has threaded that particular needle.
Is Intel a Buy, Hold or Sell?
Turning to Wall Street, analysts have a Hold consensus rating on INTC stock based on two Buys, 27 Holds and five Sells assigned in the past three months, as indicated by the graphic below. After a 61.2% rally in its share price over the past year, the average INTC price target of $26.83 per share implies 28.28% downside risk.
