** Shares of Intel INTC.O up 5.1% at $123.01 in pre-market trading

** Shares up after the company said its new 18A manufacturing process has entered risk production

** The 18A-P variant offers 9% higher performance

** The move aims to show that the company is following through on manufacturing commitments and make the tech more appealing to external customers

** Company previously noted strong first-quarter CPU demand from AI firms and forecast secomd-quarter revenue of $13.8 billion-$14.8 billion vs previous estimate of $13.07 billion, per LSEG-compiled data

** Intel stock has jumped ~217.2% YTD, compared with a 13.5% rise for the Nasdaq .IXIC

** Average rating of 48 analysts is "hold"; median PT of $89.40 is ~27% below the pre-market price