In the first half of 2026, Nvidia maintained its AI chip crown, controlling between 80% and 90% of the AI data center GPU market, with its data center segment generating roughly $194 billion over its most recent fiscal year. AMD emerged as the leading challenger, delivering strong stock gains with triple-digit growth, record data center revenue up 57% from a year earlier, and multiyear commitments from OpenAI and Meta Platforms, though it holds only a mid-single-digit slice of the AI GPU market. Intel’s rally came from foundry optimism, not meaningful progress in AI accelerators; its Gaudi AI accelerators never gained traction and will not generate meaningful revenue, and its next-generation data center AI chip is not expected until well into 2027. Despite being essentially absent from the AI accelerator war, Intel was the best-performing stock in the first half.