BofA on $INTC (Buy, $160 PT): “Intel’s Q2 beat/raise earnings call reconfirms the two pillars of our Buy thesis: 1) External manufacturing (foundry) customer discussions have reached a more tangible stage, leading to capex boost (positive semicaps), and 2) INTC’s core server CPU business is strongly participating in the ongoing agentic cycle, with data center sales surging 59% YoY, INTC’s best growth rate in the past 15 years. We reiterate Buy and continue to view INTC’s US-based leading-edge capacity and strong backing by the White House as long-term competitive moats. Risk-wise we must watch for any capital market action to fund the capex, though we note INTC has other levers re non-core asset disposals, plus potential customer prepayments as alternatives.”