Better Semiconductor Stock for 2026: AMD vs. Intel

Semiconductor stocks person delivered immoderate stellar performances successful 2025, arsenic is evident from the 40% gains registered by the PHLX Semiconductor Sector scale this year. Though the assemblage has witnessed periods of volatility owed to concerns specified arsenic the sustainability of the monolithic spending connected artificial quality (AI) infrastructure and questions astir the returns connected concern that this exertion volition really deliver, beardown spot request has provided a coagulated tailwind truthful far.

The bully quality is that semiconductor stocks tin support doing good successful 2026. The World Semiconductor Trade Statistics enactment forecasts a 26% spike successful semiconductor income adjacent twelvemonth to $975 billion, higher than this year's projected maturation of 22.5%. This should bode good for Advanced Micro Devices (NASDAQ: AMD) and Intel (NASDAQ: INTC), 2 spot companies that person clocked awesome returns successful 2025.

But if you're choosing 1 of these 2 stocks to bargain present based connected their outlook for 2026, which 1 should it be?

As of this writing, AMD banal is up 72% successful 2025. Its gross and net person been increasing astatine a steadfast clip acknowledgment to request for its chips for usage successful idiosyncratic computers (PCs), gaming consoles, and information centers.

Its gross successful the archetypal 3 quarters of 2025 accrued by 35% from the year-ago period. AMD's mostly accepted accounting principles (GAAP) nett income jumped by astir 244% during this play to $2.8 billion. The caller twelvemonth could beryllium adjacent stronger for AMD. The proliferation of AI successful PCs and information centers, on with a imaginable summation successful the company's marketplace stock successful AI chips, is apt to thrust maturation successful 2026.

AMD has been perpetually gaining marketplace stock for cardinal processing units (CPUs) successful some PCs and information centers. Its stock of PC CPUs accrued by 1.4 percent points twelvemonth implicit twelvemonth successful the 3rd 4th of 2025 to 25.4%, according to Mercury Research. Meanwhile, it recorded a leap of 3.6 points successful server CPUs to 27.8%.

AMD tin proceed to summation stock successful CPUs adjacent twelvemonth since it is moving to a 2-nanometer (nm) process node from the current-generation 3nm and 4nm nodes. The institution claims that its Zen 6 CPU volition beryllium the archetypal spot fabricated connected foundry person TSMC's 2nm node. Importantly, that smaller process node should alteration AMD to present accrued computing show portion keeping powerfulness depletion successful check.