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Intel surged +25% on Thursday after reporting Q1 revenue of $13.6B (vs. $12.36B est.) and adjusted EPS of $0.29 (vs. $0.01 est.). The Data Center & AI segment delivered $5.1B (+22% YoY), crushing the $4.41B consensus. CEO Lip-Bu Tan said customer demand exceeds supply. Q2 guidance of $13.8B–$14.8B also topped the $13.03B consensus. The stock held gains Friday, closing above its dot-com-era 2000 high for the first time.
Nvidia rose +4.3% to $208.24 on Friday, adding ~$260B in market cap and reclaiming the $5.1 trillion valuation throne. The rally was fueled by the Intel-driven semiconductor euphoria and sustained AI chip demand. The SOX semiconductor index extended its winning streak to 18 consecutive sessions. Fiscal Q1 2027 earnings due May 20 — analysts project 77% revenue growth.
AMD surged +13.9% to a record $347.77 after analyst Gil Luria at DA Davidson upgraded from Neutral to Buy and raised his price target from $220 to $375. The thesis: agentic AI workloads are shifting the GPU-to-CPU ratio from 8:1 toward parity, creating "unprecedented" server CPU demand. AMD's data center GPU revenue is forecast to more than double (+114% YoY) to $15B in 2026.
TSMC reported Q1 revenue of NT$1.13T (~$35.9B), up 41% YoY, with net profit surging 58%. Gross margins hit 66.2%, beating guidance. The high-performance computing segment (AI data center) accounted for 61% of revenue. TSMC raised its full-year 2026 revenue growth forecast to 30%+ and guided Q2 to $39B–$40.2B. The foundry giant has reportedly hiked advanced chip prices.
Bank of America reiterated Buy on Amazon and lifted its target from $275 to $298, valuing AWS at 9x 2027 sales. Analysts raised their AWS growth estimate to 28% YoY (vs. 25% consensus), citing Anthropic-related revenues as a key driver. Amazon reports earnings soon with expectations that AWS growth could reach 29%.
Palantir signed a $300M Blanket Purchase Agreement with the USDA on April 22 to modernize farm services delivery via the "One Farmer, One File" initiative. The multi-year deal builds on the existing "Landmark" platform and pushed PLTR up 4.3% on the announcement. At 110x forward P/E, the stock remains priced for perfection, but government pipeline continues to expand.
Benzinga highlighted six S&P 500 stocks up 100%+ YTD, all tied to AI's physical layer: SanDisk (SNDK +307%), Western Digital (WDC +136%), Lumentum (LITE +129%), Ciena (CIEN +122%), Seagate (STX +116%), and Teradyne (TER +107%). Nvidia's $2B strategic investment in Lumentum for AI data center optics is a key catalyst. Western Digital has sold out its entire 2026 HDD production capacity.
BlackRock is turning more bullish on U.S. equities, forecasting an 80% surge in semiconductor earnings this year. NVDA's fiscal 2026 revenue is projected at $215.9B (+65% YoY), and AMD's data center revenue at $28.7B (+73%). The broader tech sector is expected to deliver 43% earnings growth, with its valuation premium at the lowest since mid-2020. Contrarian note: Michael Burry is reportedly betting against Nvidia.
Quantum stocks ripped over the past week: IonQ +72%, D-Wave (QBTS) +56%, Rigetti (RGTI) +37%. Catalysts include Nvidia's April 14 launch of Ising quantum-AI models and IonQ's DARPA HARQ program contract. IonQ guides 2026 revenue to ~$235M (vs. $130M in 2025). Valuations are extreme — P/S ratios of 106 (IONQ), 870 (RGTI), and 283 (QBTS) — well above historical bubble thresholds.
SoundHound AI announced an all-stock acquisition of LivePerson for $43M (~$250M enterprise value), combining voice AI with digital messaging to create an end-to-end omnichannel conversational AI platform reaching 25 of the Fortune 100. Stock initially dropped 5.65% on dilution fears, then recovered to $8.08 (+3.3%). DA Davidson initiated at Buy with a $14 PT. Combined 2027 revenue target: $350M–$500M. Earnings due May 7.