Intel’s $440 Billion Six-Week Surge Has Short Sellers Circling

A scorching rally in Intel Corp. shares is threatening huge losses for traders wagering that they’re due to fall. But that isn’t stopping them from placing those bets.

Since hitting a low on March 30, the chipmaker’s stock price has soared 214% through Monday’s close, adding more than $440 billion to its market capitalization and pushing short-sellers’ paper losses above $12 billion, according to data from S3 Partners. At the same time, short interest in Intel shares as a percentage of the company’s float, a measure of how many shares have been borrowed to bet against the stock, is near a 52-week high.