INTC Breaks $100 as Broadcom's AI Guidance Triggers a Chip-Wide Selloff

Broadcom Pulled the Pin

The move that took INTC through $100 didn't start at Intel. It started at Broadcom, which reported fiscal Q2 after the June 3 close. The quarter itself was strong — AI semiconductor revenue of $10.8 billion, up 143% year over year, on $22.2 billion total revenue. The guide was the problem. Broadcom told the Street to expect about $16 billion of AI revenue in Q3 against the roughly $17.2 billion consensus had penciled in, declined to lift its full-year AI target, and CEO Hock Tan added two things the tape didn't want to hear: that Google would likely spread its custom-silicon orders across multiple suppliers, and that the surging AI mix was weighing on gross margins. AVGO fell roughly 12% after hours and dragged the whole complex with it.

Intel has no part in any of this — no earnings, no guidance, no INTC-specific headline. But it trades as one of the highest-beta names in the group, so it absorbed the most of the move. Micron fell about 7.7% and SanDisk about 7.9% while INTC printed -6.8% into a sub-$100 cash close; the perp marked a deeper 11.12% over the rolling 24-hour window as the spillover compounded across two sessions.

The Macro Took the Bid Away

The sector never got a chance to stabilize because the macro turned the same week. The May nonfarm payrolls print came in at 172,000, stronger than the market wanted, which eliminated near-term rate-cut hopes and reintroduced rate-hike risk by year-end per CME FedWatch.

High-multiple semiconductors are the most rate-sensitive corner of the tape. Their valuations rest on multi-year earnings assumptions discounted back at whatever the front end implies, so a hawkish repricing hits them first and hardest. That's the second leg: Broadcom reset the growth numerator, and the rates move raised the discount rate you apply to it. Both pushed the same direction at the same time.

Why INTC Has the Most to Give Back

Of all the names in the selloff, INTC was the most stretched going in. It came into the week up more than 190% on the year — one of the biggest comeback trades of 2026 — and was trading above its average analyst price target near $87.72, priced for the agentic-CPU and foundry-turnaround thesis to keep compounding. When the sector narrative cracks, the names that ran furthest above fundamentals de-risk first.

The sell-side hasn't turned bullish into the dip, either. Even as Wells Fargo, Barclays and Mizuho nudged targets to $110, $100 and $128, all three stayed neutral, acknowledging the valuation already reflects the thesis. The most bearish anchor on the name — HSBC's Reduce rating and $24 target from May's downgrade — hasn't been retracted, and the foundry that justifies the bull case is still unprofitable. Losing the $100 handle matters because it's the first round number to break since the rally began, and it leaves INTC roughly 23% below its $129.44 52-week high.

What's Next on the Tape

The next hard, Intel-specific catalyst is the Q2 report, due around July 23, where consensus looks for roughly 19 cents of EPS against a 10-cent loss a year ago. Until then INTC is a sector-beta vehicle. It will trade off the broader AI-capex narrative — Broadcom's reset, plus Nvidia's RTX Spark superchip push into AI PCs that pressures Intel's client franchise — and off the rates tape that just turned hawkish. The $100 line is now resistance rather than support, and the $129.44 high is the bull-case invalidation that already failed once in May's rout.