Demand for Intel’s central processors from firms offering AI services was so strong in the first quarter that it sold even chips it had originally written off, a remarkable turnaround that sent the company’s shares soaring on Friday.The stock surged more than 24% to $83 in early trading, surpassing its dot-com era peak in 2000 and taking the company’s market value above $416 billion.Rival AMD and Arm also gained more than 11% each on growing conviction that inference -the process by which artificial intelligence answers user queries -could restore central processing units to the heart of the industry after years of being eclipsed by graphics chips used in AI training. Nvidia, the graphics chip giant that has dominated the AI boom, has also sensed the shift and braced for greater competition.
