Intel (INTC) and Alphabet (GOOG) (GOOGL) shares closed comfortably in the green on April 9 after the tech giants announced a multi-year expansion of their artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure deal.
On Thursday, the search giant confirmed it will deploy Intel’s next-gen Xeon processors and co-develop custom Infrastructure Processing Units (IPUs) to scale its data centers.
Year-to-date, Intel stock has massively outperformed GOOGL, with the former currently up more than 50% while the latter is essentially flat at the time of writing.
Intel Vs. Google Stock: Which Should You Buy Today?
The announced partnership sure confirms INTC’s relevance in the AI era, but underlying valuation and cash flow stability suggest Google stock may be the better pick at current levels.
Alphabet is trading at a more reasonable 26x earnings versus Intel’s massive turnaround premium.
Additionally, Google’s vertical integration, using Xeon chips while simultaneously developing its own TPU artificial intelligence accelerators, offers a diversified hardware edge.
INTC, despite solid performance in 2026, is still navigating a capital-intensive foundry transition that leaves its margins vulnerable compared to GOOGL’s high-margin advertising and cloud sales streams.
What Else Makes GOOGL Shares Superior to INTC
Strengthening the investment case for GOOGL shares is the company’s position as both a customer and a competitor in the AI chips space.
While Intel is fighting to regain market share from giants like Nvidia (NVDA) and Advanced Micro Devices (AMD), Alphabet owns the entire stack, from the massive data centers housing INTC chips to the Gemini models running on them.
Intel’s reliance on high-cost buybacks of its own fab ventures, like the recent $14.2 billion equity repurchase in Ireland, highlights a heavy capital expenditure burden.
In contrast, Google’s capital allocation remains far more disciplined, as steady cash flow continues to support share repurchases and dividend payments in 2026.
Wall Street’s View on Intel and Alphabet
What’s also worth mentioning is that Wall Street analysts are also more positive on Google shares than INTC for the next 12 months.
The consensus rating on GOOGL sits at “Strong Buy,” with the mean target of about $379 signaling potential upside of another 19%.
In comparison, the consensus “Hold” rating on Intel shares is tied to a mean price objective of $47, indicating potential downside of more than 20% from here.
On the date of publication, Wajeeh Khan did not have (either directly or indirectly) positions in any of the securities mentioned in this article. All information and data in this article is solely for informational purposes. For more information please view the Barchart Disclosure Policy here.
More news from Barchart
