Intel isn’t just sitting back and watching the artificial intelligence race pass them by. The tech giant is making a massive push, teaming up with AI specialist SambaNova Systems to grab a much bigger slice of the booming AI inference market. But that’s only half the story. While Intel aggressively expands its AI footprint, Taiwan Semiconductor’s current capacity headaches are rapidly turning into a golden opportunity for Intel’s own foundry ambitions.

Betting Big on Cost-Effective AI Inference

Intel is putting serious capital behind its strategy. The company has locked in a multi-year strategic partnership with SambaNova, a firm highly regarded for its AI chips and complete hardware systems. Intel Capital also threw its weight behind the startup’s Series E funding round, helping them bag a hefty $350 million. The main objective here is straightforward. They want to make AI inference, the day-to-day execution of AI models, far more cost-effective for enterprise clients.

The plan relies on stitching Intel’s Xeon processors together with SambaNova’s full-stack technology to build entirely heterogeneous AI data centres. We are talking about combining Intel’s CPUs, GPUs, networking, and storage gear with SambaNova’s platform. This gives Intel a solid alternative offering in the inference space, a market that isn’t quite as monopolised by single players as the training side of large language models. The rollout is already taking shape. SambaNova’s new SN50 chip is taking centre stage in this venture, with Japan’s SoftBank stepping up as the very first customer to use these specific chips in their data centres.

Capitalising on Rival Foundry Struggles

At the same time, the broader semiconductor landscape is undergoing a massive shift. Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) is facing an absolute nightmare trying to keep up with global capacity demands. This production bottleneck is exactly what Intel’s foundry division has been praying for. When the biggest player struggles to produce enough silicon for the industry, the door swings wide open for alternatives. Major heavyweights like Apple, Broadcom, Nvidia, and Samsung are constantly fighting for chip production space. Intel’s aggressive push to build out its own foundry services couldn’t be timed better. If they can position themselves as a reliable backup or primary supplier to these massive tech firms, the long-term payoff could be monumental.

The Ongoing Turf War with AMD

Despite these ambitious AI and foundry moves, Intel is still sweating in its traditional CPU business. The pressure from AMD is relentless. Just look at the Q4 2025 data from Mercury Research. Intel held a 63.6% share in desktop CPUs, leaving AMD with a 36.4% slice. In the laptop market, Intel managed to hold onto a much stronger 74% share. However, across the entire x86 ecosystem, covering desktops, notebooks, and servers, AMD hit a record-breaking 29.2% market share.

It’s not entirely doom and gloom for Intel’s core business. In a very specific but closely watched niche, the January 2026 Steam Hardware and Software Survey showed Intel’s CPU share among PC gamers clawing back a slight 0.25 percentage points to reach 56.64%. It hardly offsets the broader market trends, but it does signal a brief stabilisation in specific user bases after a prolonged period of steady decline.

Market Sentiment and the Shareholder Dilemma

So, where does this leave investors? On the trading floor, Intel shares have seen solid backing recently. The stock closed Tuesday at €39.16, boasting a healthy 16.55% gain since the start of the year. The real test in the coming months will be whether Intel can actually translate partnerships like the SambaNova deal into tangible, large-scale enterprise deployments. They desperately need to show the market a growing, profitable second pillar right alongside their core processor business.

The financial markets are currently flooded with urgent warnings and survival advice for investors. Analysts are chattering about a looming ‘Silver Tsunami’ and urging traders to drop overhyped Wall Street darlings before they implode. In this chaotic environment, figuring out whether Intel is a dark horse stock to hold onto or one to exit remains the big question for local and international shareholders. Everyone is watching closely to see if this dual strategy of AI inference and aggressive foundry expansion is enough to keep the competition at bay.