Intel Corp. (NASDAQ:INTC) shares jumped over 7% Thursday after Bank of America Corp. handed the chipmaker a rare double upgrade, lifting its rating two notches, from ‘Underperform’ straight to ‘Buy.’

Analyst Vivek Arya also raised the firm’s price objective on Intel from $96 to $135, implying roughly 26% upside from Wednesday’s close.

A double-upgrade skips the usual Neutral way station and jumps straight from sell to buy. They are rare.

Banks reserve them for moments when the thesis they were betting against breaks.

Arya now sees “higher confidence in INTC's opportunity to help address industry constraints in leading edge wafers/packaging, plus supply into a much larger agentic CPU TAM."

Bank of America now models Intel’s earnings power at more than $6 per share by 2030, up sharply from a prior $3-to-$4 range.

Intel has been one of 2026’s best stocks, surging roughly 210% year-to-date and putting it on pace for its best annual showing since 1975.

Why It Matters: CPUs And Foundry

On the product side, Bank of America expects Intel’s central processing unit, or CPU, sales to top $40 billion by 2030, ...