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Intel crushed Q1 expectations with $13.6B revenue (beating guidance by $1.4B) and adjusted EPS of $0.29, up 156% YoY. The Data Center & AI segment grew 22% YoY as agentic AI workloads drive massive CPU demand — a structural shift that caught the market off guard. CEO Lip-Bu Tan highlighted that autonomous AI agents favor CPUs over GPUs at scale, validating Intel's turnaround thesis. Shares have more than doubled YTD.
China's NDRC ordered Meta to unwind its December acquisition of Manus, the Singapore-based agentic AI startup with Chinese roots. Beijing argues Manus's core algorithms are restricted export technology developed by China-based entities, requiring compliance with export licensing and data security rules. Meta says the deal "complied fully with applicable law" and expects a resolution. This is a major escalation in US-China AI tech transfer tensions and could chill future cross-border AI M&A.
Nvidia surged 4.3% to $208.27 on Friday, closing at its first record since October and pushing its market cap past the $5T mark. The rally was catalyzed by Intel's earnings-driven semiconductor euphoria and sustained hyperscaler AI chip demand. Nvidia remains the gravitational center of the AI trade, up over 14x since end of 2022.
Analyst Gil Luria upgraded AMD from Neutral to Buy and raised his PT from $220 to $375 (32x CY27 EPS), well above the Street consensus of ~$290. Luria lifted his 2026 revenue estimate by $2B and gross profit by $1.5B, both above AMD's own guidance. The catalyst: Intel's Q1 results confirming a structural shift in CPU demand for agentic AI benefits AMD equally. Shares gapped up ~12% heading into its May 5 earnings report.
Arm rallied 14.9% Friday as Intel's earnings validated the thesis that agentic AI shifts compute demand toward CPUs — and Arm licenses architecture to virtually every cloud vendor. The company recently unveiled its own data center CPU ("AGI CPU") and is guiding to $25B total revenue by 2031 (from ~$4B in 2025). The stock now trades at 300x+ trailing earnings.
Four of the five largest AI infrastructure spenders report Q1 on Tuesday: Microsoft (est. $4.04 EPS, Azure growth guided 37-38%), Alphabet (est. ~$107B revenue, cloud growth accelerating past 48%), Amazon (est. $2.11 EPS, $177B revenue, $200B full-year capex guide), and Meta (est. $6.65 EPS, $55B revenue, $115-135B 2026 capex). Apple follows April 30. The market is no longer rewarding AI spend on faith — investors want proof of monetization.
South Korea's KOSPI topped 6,600 intraday for the first time, with total Korean market cap exceeding 6,000 trillion won. SK Hynix surged 5.7% to a record (now 17th globally by market cap) and Samsung added 2.3%. Foreign and institutional investors were net buyers of nearly 2 trillion won. The global AI chip demand narrative is now driving record-breaking moves across multiple continents.
SoundHound announced a definitive agreement to acquire LivePerson (LPSN) for $43M equity value (~$250M enterprise value including debt). The deal combines SoundHound's voice agentic AI with LivePerson's digital messaging platform (1B messages/month). The combined entity targets $500M revenue from existing customers alone. SOUN fell on the announcement April 21 (dilution concerns) but carries a Strong Buy consensus with 110%+ upside. Closes H2 2026.
Gartner's latest forecast projects the strongest semiconductor growth in two decades, with AI chips accounting for ~30% of total revenue. Hyperscaler AI infrastructure spending is expected to rise 50%+ in 2026. However, Gartner warns of "memflation" — DRAM prices up 125%, NAND up 234% — which will destroy or delay non-AI demand into 2028. Memory revenue alone is expected to triple.
Mizuho's Vijay Rakesh reiterated Buy with a $480 target on Broadcom, citing its expanding custom ASIC pipeline anchored by landmark multi-year deals with Alphabet and Anthropic announced earlier this month. Broadcom is the lead design partner for Google's 7th-gen TPU ("Ironwood") on 3nm, while Anthropic gains access to 3.5 GW of Broadcom-designed compute through 2027+. The combined infrastructure buildout is estimated at $120-175B. AVGO jumped 6% when the deals were announced and has held gains.
