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Focus on 5 AI Behemoths Carving a Niche in the Server CPU Chip Market
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Key Takeaways
AMD's server CPU revenues rose more than 50% year over year; management sees over 70% growth in Q2 2026.
Intel launched Panther Lake and Xeon 6 chips targeting AI PCs, edge AI and server workloads.
NVIDIA plans Vera Rubin shipments in second-half 2026, with 36 CPUs and 72 GPUs per system.
The artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure trade has shifted from pure-play generative AI-based semiconductors to other AI-powered data center infrastructures. Moreover, the explosion of agentic AI is expanding the scope of AI infrastructure providers in the physical layer across industries.
This physical layer AI will ensure the next phase of the AI wave with the extensive application of agentic AI in fields like robotics, automotive, PCs and game consoles, to name a few. As a result, the so long dormant AI server CPU (Central Processing Unit) space has charged up with the advent of agentic AI tools.
Bofa Global Research estimated that the total addressable market for server CPU will grow to more than $170 billion by 2030 from $35 billion in 2025. NVIDIA projected a $200 billion opportunity for the server CPU market.
Here, we recommend five AI infrastructure giants that have taken initiatives to develop chips for the AI server CPU space. These are: Advanced Micro Devices Inc. (AMD - Free Report) , Intel Corp. (INTC - Free Report) , Arm Holdings plc (ARM - Free Report) , NVIDIA Corp. (NVDA - Free Report) and QUALCOMM Inc. (QCOM - Free Report) . Each of these stocks currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).
The chart below shows the price performance of our five picks year to date.
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
Advanced Micro Devices Inc.
Advanced Micro Devices is expanding its AI portfolio from Instinct MI355X to the MI450 series and the Helios rack-scale platform. In the first quarter of 2026, AMD’s Data Center revenue rose 57% year over year to $5.8 billion, supported by higher EPYC and Instinct shipments.
EPYC adoption is being pulled by AI workloads that require more CPU orchestration, data movement and head nodes for accelerators. In the first quarter of 2026, AMD’s server CPU revenues grew more than 50% year over year, and management expects server CPU revenues to grow more than 70% year over year in the second quarter of 2026 as supply ramps.
AMD is on track to launch sixth-gen EPYC Venice later in 2026, with more customers validating platforms than prior generations. Management also raised its view of the server CPU market to greater than 35% annual growth, reaching over $120 billion by 2030.
Advanced Micro Devices has an expected revenue and earnings growth rate of 40.7% and 72.9%, respectively, for the current year. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for the current year’s earnings has improved 0.1% over the last 30 days.
Intel Corp.
Intel launched the Intel Core Ultra series 3 processor (code-named Panther Lake) in January 2026 and Xeon 6+ (code-named Clearwater Forest) on June 2026. Panther Lake is designed to power a broad spectrum of consumer and commercial AI PCs, gaming devices and edge solutions. Clearwater Forest is an E-core server processor that enables business enterprises to scale workloads, reduce energy costs and power more intelligent services.
INTC launched the new vPro platform with the Intel Core Ultra processor that delivers enhanced power efficiency. With dedicated AI acceleration capability spread across the central processing unit, graphics processing unit and the new neural processing unit, it will unlock an endless new wave of AI experiences across all apps.
Along with the AI PC domain, Intel is also expanding into the rapidly growing Edge AI landscape. It has recently introduced Intel Core Ultra Series 3 processors. The chips offer significantly better large language model performance, video analytics and higher throughput on vision language action models. With its leading-edge features, the chips are ideal for edge AI deployment in smart cities, robotics, healthcare and other sectors.
Intel has an expected revenue and earnings growth rate of 9.4% and more than 100%, respectively, for the current year. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for the current year’s earnings has improved 1% over the last seven days.
Arm Holdings plc
Arm Holdings researches, develops, licenses, and markets CPU intellectual property (IP), GPU IP, systems IP, compute subsystems (CSS) and associated software, tools and related services. ARM’s product portfolio includes CPU IP, GPU and neural processing unit (NPU) accelerators, system IP such as interconnects, compute platform products including pre-integrated CSSs, and development tools and software.
Arm Holdings has an expected revenue and earnings growth rate of 21% and 18.6%, respectively, for the current year (ending March 2027). The Zacks Consensus Estimate for the current year’s earnings has remained the same over the last 30 days.
NVIDIA Corp.
NVIDIA is aiming to become a leading supplier of AI CPUs. In this regard, NVDA’s new AI superchip — Vera Rubin — may become a game-changer. This innovative rack-scale system will deliver 10 times more performance per watt than its predecessor, Grace Blackwell.
The Vera Rubin system comprises 1.3 million components, including 72 Rubin GPUs and 36 Vera CPUs. NVIDIA will start the shipment of Vera Rubin in the second half of 2026. NVDA had earlier announced the roadmap for Rubin Ultra, likely to be introduced in late 2027, and Feynman AI chips to be launched in 2028.
NVIDIA has an expected revenue and earnings growth rate of 78.5% and 87.8%, respectively, for the current year (ending January 2027). The Zacks Consensus Estimate for the current year’s earnings has improved 10.1% over the last 30 days.
QUALCOMM Inc.
QUALCOMM is investing to extend its Oryon CPU and AI acceleration beyond smartphones into PCs and servers. Management said its 2026 Snapdragon X2 PC platforms are in production and positioned to enable always-on agentic experiences, supported by a Hexagon NPU delivering up to 85 TOPS.
QCOM also said the Alphawave integration is off to a good start and that it is pursuing opportunities with hyperscalers and other partners. QCOM is entering the custom silicon space with a leading hyperscaler and expects initial shipments in the December quarter, adding a revenue stream that is not tied to handset unit cycles.
The Alphawave acquisition, completed in fiscal 2026 for $2.3 billion, adds high-speed wired connectivity IP and custom silicon capabilities intended to accelerate QCOM’s expansion into data centers.
QUALCOMM has an expected revenue and earnings growth rate of -3.2% and -10.2%, respectively, for the current year (ending September 2026). The Zacks Consensus Estimate for the current year’s earnings has remained the same over the last 30 days.
View the Zacks #1 Rank List
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Focus on 5 AI Behemoths Carving a Niche in the Server CPU Chip Market
Key Takeaways
The artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure trade has shifted from pure-play generative AI-based semiconductors to other AI-powered data center infrastructures. Moreover, the explosion of agentic AI is expanding the scope of AI infrastructure providers in the physical layer across industries.
This physical layer AI will ensure the next phase of the AI wave with the extensive application of agentic AI in fields like robotics, automotive, PCs and game consoles, to name a few. As a result, the so long dormant AI server CPU (Central Processing Unit) space has charged up with the advent of agentic AI tools.
Bofa Global Research estimated that the total addressable market for server CPU will grow to more than $170 billion by 2030 from $35 billion in 2025. NVIDIA projected a $200 billion opportunity for the server CPU market.
Here, we recommend five AI infrastructure giants that have taken initiatives to develop chips for the AI server CPU space. These are: Advanced Micro Devices Inc. (AMD - Free Report) , Intel Corp. (INTC - Free Report) , Arm Holdings plc (ARM - Free Report) , NVIDIA Corp. (NVDA - Free Report) and QUALCOMM Inc. (QCOM - Free Report) . Each of these stocks currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).
The chart below shows the price performance of our five picks year to date.
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
Advanced Micro Devices Inc.
Advanced Micro Devices is expanding its AI portfolio from Instinct MI355X to the MI450 series and the Helios rack-scale platform. In the first quarter of 2026, AMD’s Data Center revenue rose 57% year over year to $5.8 billion, supported by higher EPYC and Instinct shipments.
EPYC adoption is being pulled by AI workloads that require more CPU orchestration, data movement and head nodes for accelerators. In the first quarter of 2026, AMD’s server CPU revenues grew more than 50% year over year, and management expects server CPU revenues to grow more than 70% year over year in the second quarter of 2026 as supply ramps.
AMD is on track to launch sixth-gen EPYC Venice later in 2026, with more customers validating platforms than prior generations. Management also raised its view of the server CPU market to greater than 35% annual growth, reaching over $120 billion by 2030.
Advanced Micro Devices has an expected revenue and earnings growth rate of 40.7% and 72.9%, respectively, for the current year. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for the current year’s earnings has improved 0.1% over the last 30 days.
Intel Corp.
Intel launched the Intel Core Ultra series 3 processor (code-named Panther Lake) in January 2026 and Xeon 6+ (code-named Clearwater Forest) on June 2026. Panther Lake is designed to power a broad spectrum of consumer and commercial AI PCs, gaming devices and edge solutions. Clearwater Forest is an E-core server processor that enables business enterprises to scale workloads, reduce energy costs and power more intelligent services.
INTC launched the new vPro platform with the Intel Core Ultra processor that delivers enhanced power efficiency. With dedicated AI acceleration capability spread across the central processing unit, graphics processing unit and the new neural processing unit, it will unlock an endless new wave of AI experiences across all apps.
Along with the AI PC domain, Intel is also expanding into the rapidly growing Edge AI landscape. It has recently introduced Intel Core Ultra Series 3 processors. The chips offer significantly better large language model performance, video analytics and higher throughput on vision language action models. With its leading-edge features, the chips are ideal for edge AI deployment in smart cities, robotics, healthcare and other sectors.
Intel has an expected revenue and earnings growth rate of 9.4% and more than 100%, respectively, for the current year. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for the current year’s earnings has improved 1% over the last seven days.
Arm Holdings plc
Arm Holdings researches, develops, licenses, and markets CPU intellectual property (IP), GPU IP, systems IP, compute subsystems (CSS) and associated software, tools and related services. ARM’s product portfolio includes CPU IP, GPU and neural processing unit (NPU) accelerators, system IP such as interconnects, compute platform products including pre-integrated CSSs, and development tools and software.
Arm Holdings has an expected revenue and earnings growth rate of 21% and 18.6%, respectively, for the current year (ending March 2027). The Zacks Consensus Estimate for the current year’s earnings has remained the same over the last 30 days.
NVIDIA Corp.
NVIDIA is aiming to become a leading supplier of AI CPUs. In this regard, NVDA’s new AI superchip — Vera Rubin — may become a game-changer. This innovative rack-scale system will deliver 10 times more performance per watt than its predecessor, Grace Blackwell.
The Vera Rubin system comprises 1.3 million components, including 72 Rubin GPUs and 36 Vera CPUs. NVIDIA will start the shipment of Vera Rubin in the second half of 2026. NVDA had earlier announced the roadmap for Rubin Ultra, likely to be introduced in late 2027, and Feynman AI chips to be launched in 2028.
NVIDIA has an expected revenue and earnings growth rate of 78.5% and 87.8%, respectively, for the current year (ending January 2027). The Zacks Consensus Estimate for the current year’s earnings has improved 10.1% over the last 30 days.
QUALCOMM Inc.
QUALCOMM is investing to extend its Oryon CPU and AI acceleration beyond smartphones into PCs and servers. Management said its 2026 Snapdragon X2 PC platforms are in production and positioned to enable always-on agentic experiences, supported by a Hexagon NPU delivering up to 85 TOPS.
QCOM also said the Alphawave integration is off to a good start and that it is pursuing opportunities with hyperscalers and other partners. QCOM is entering the custom silicon space with a leading hyperscaler and expects initial shipments in the December quarter, adding a revenue stream that is not tied to handset unit cycles.
The Alphawave acquisition, completed in fiscal 2026 for $2.3 billion, adds high-speed wired connectivity IP and custom silicon capabilities intended to accelerate QCOM’s expansion into data centers.
QUALCOMM has an expected revenue and earnings growth rate of -3.2% and -10.2%, respectively, for the current year (ending September 2026). The Zacks Consensus Estimate for the current year’s earnings has remained the same over the last 30 days.