INTC & CrowdStrike Team Up to Secure AI Adoption: Will it Fuel Growth?

Intel Corporation INTC formed a collaboration with CrowdStrike, a leading AI-native cybersecurity company, to secure AI adoption across AI PCs. Modern AI PC architecture supported by Intel AI chips includes Neural Processing Units dedicated to AI tasks along with CPU and GPU. Intel already provides its leading-edge Threat Detection Technology that helps in detecting ransomware and crypto mining malware, while Intel vPro brings hardware-assisted recovery capabilities.

In addition to this, Intel aims to add CrowdStrike’s Falcon platform, which brings several advantages. The integration facilitates real-time threat detection and, more importantly, protection against AI-specific threats.

AI has gone from an extra supportive layer to a critical component for attaining a competitive edge. Enterprises are rushing to incorporate sophisticated AI models. With this, the threat of sensitive data leaking into AI tools, malicious prompts or model manipulation and AI-generated malware is growing.

With this collaboration, Intel aims to mitigate these risks and accelerate AI adoption. This will prevent generative AI data leaks without slowing PC performance, providing organizations with an extra layer of security and supporting AI integration with greater confidence, fostering innovation and boosting efficiency.

Per a report from Precedence Research, the worldwide AI market is projected to grow from $757.6 billion in 2025 to $3.68 trillion in 2034, with a compound annual growth rate of 19.2%. With growing prowess in the AI PC domain, Intel is well-positioned to capitalize on this market trend.

How Are INTC’s Competitors Faring?

Intel faces stiff competition from Advanced Micro Devices AMD and Qualcomm Incorporated QCOM. To make the device secure, Qualcomm takes the approach that it uses for smartphones. It emphasizes on-device AI, privacy-first design and isolation of AI workloads from OS. Its Snapdragon Guardian, a technology available in platforms like Snapdragon X2 Elite, ensures end-to-end PC management with hardware, software and cloud integration. This effectively helps in securing data and safeguarding devices.

AMD offers a dedicated security chip, full memory encryption and a security boost to prevent firmware attacks. AMD also collaborates with Microsoft to protect credentials and encryption keys with Microsoft Pluton Integration.

INTC’s Price Performance, Valuation & Estimates

Shares of Intel have surged 101.4% over the past year compared with the industry’s growth of 50%.

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Going by the price/book ratio, the company's shares currently trade at 1.87 book value, lower than 26.15 of the industry average.

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Earnings estimates for INTC for 2026 and 2027 have increased over the past 60 days.

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Intel stock currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

Zacks Names #1 Semiconductor Stock

This under-the-radar company specializes in semiconductor products that titans like NVIDIA don't build. It's uniquely positioned to take advantage of the next growth stage of this market. And it's just beginning to enter the spotlight, which is exactly where you want to be.

With strong earnings growth and an expanding customer base, it's positioned to feed the rampant demand for Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, and Internet of Things. Global semiconductor manufacturing is projected to explode from $452 billion in 2021 to $971 billion by 2028.

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