Intel shares rise premarket, on pace to extend gains made after AI chip unveiling

Investing.com -- Shares in Intel (NASDAQ:INTC) rose in U.S. premarket trading on Friday, putting them on track to extend gains posted in the prior session that were sparked by the PC processor maker's unveiling of new computer chips designed to enhance its presence in the burgeoning artificial intelligence hardware market.

Attention particularly swirled around Gaudi 3, an artificial intelligence accelerator chip for generative AI software that Intel plans to launch next year. The processor is seen as a possible rival to AI-optimized chips made by Nvidia (NASDAQ:NVDA) and AMD (NASDAQ:AMD).

At an event in New York City on Thursday, Intel also announced a second update to its Xeon server chips in less than a year. The fifth-generation version of the chip is built with AI acceleration "in every core," the world's biggest manufacturer of PC processors said in a statement.

Meanwhile, Intel also noted that its Core Ultra chip aims to deliver the "most power-efficient client processor" that "ushers in the age" of what it has called the "AI PC." The company projects that this category will account for 80% of the PCs sold within the next four years, Reuters reported.

"Intel highlighted its focus on building out an open software ecosystem to foster AI PC adoption," analysts at Wells Fargo said in a note to clients.

Shares jumped by a little under 1.4% on Thursday.