Bank of America has named Intel (NASDAQ: INTC) among its top semiconductor stock picks for the final quarter of the year, citing the company's position in the artificial intelligence market. In a note shared with clients, analyst Vivek Arya highlighted five specific semiconductor stocks with near-term catalysts: Nvidia Corp. (NASDAQ: NVDA), Intel, Micron Technology Inc. (NASDAQ: MU), Marvell Technology Inc. (NASDAQ: MRVL), and Lam Research Corp. (NASDAQ: LRCX).
The bank’s outlook is driven by the expected growth of the AI data-center systems market, which it now forecasts to reach $2.2 trillion by 2030. This represents an increase from a previous estimate of $1.8 trillion and implies annual growth of approximately 40% from 2026. Bank of America attributes this growth to the increasing adoption of AI agents, which are programs that carry out multi-step tasks such as writing and testing code. The bank notes that a single agent workflow can generate 10 to 1,000 times more tokens than a standard chat exchange, requiring significantly more computing power.
Regarding Intel specifically, the bank cites the revival of demand for central processing units (CPUs) as a key factor. Bank of America projects the server CPU market to grow from about $61 billion in 2026 to $210 billion by 2030. Additionally, the bank is watching for a potential customer win for Intel’s contract manufacturing business. The firm also points to the timing of the fourth quarter as a favorable period for chip stocks, noting that from 2010 to 2025, the fourth and first quarters were the two best seasons for the sector.
Bank of America assigned a price objective of $145 to Intel, which implies a potential upside of 25.1% based on the stock's closing price of $115.93 on September 29. This objective is part of a broader strategy that includes other chipmakers such as AMD, Applied Materials, Analog Devices, and ON Semiconductor.
