Changing of the Guard’? AMD, Intel, and Micron Soar While Nvidia Lags

The investment landscape for artificial intelligence hardware is shifting from a singular focus on graphics processing units (GPUs) toward a broader diversification of the data center stack. While Nvidia has served as the primary beneficiary of the generative AI surge since the launch of ChatGPT in 2022, market data from May 2026 indicates a widening distribution of gains across semiconductor and infrastructure providers.

According to reporting from CNBC, recent market movements suggest what Mizuho analyst Jordan Klein described as a changing of the guard in AI. This transition is characterized by significant valuation increases for companies specializing in central processing units (CPUs), high-capacity memory and optical connectivity, signaling that investors now view the AI bull market as a long-term cycle requiring a more diverse array of advanced components.

Between May 4 and May 10, 2026, several key hardware players saw sharp increases. Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) and Intel both recorded gains of approximately 25%, while fiber-optic cable manufacturer Corning rose by about 18%. Micron, a specialist in memory chips, experienced the most significant jump, climbing more than 37% during the same period.

For the 2026 calendar year, Intel has led these gains with a valuation increase of over 200%. In contrast, Nvidia has grown by 15% for the year, placing it only slightly ahead of the Nasdaq. Despite this relative deceleration, Nvidia remains the world’s most valuable company and is projected to maintain revenue growth of 70% for the current fiscal year.

The most acute area of growth has been the memory sector, driven by a global shortage of the high-speed memory required to feed data to AI accelerators. Micron has transitioned from a stable semiconductor firm into one of the most active trades of the last 12 months, with its stock price rising over 750% in a one-year period.

This surge pushed Micron’s market capitalization beyond $800 billion for the first time during the second week of May 2026. The growth is tied directly to supply constraints that have left major customers unable to meet their hardware requirements.

In a March 2026 interview with CNBC, Micron CEO Sanjay Mehrotra stated that key customers were receiving only 50% to two-thirds of their requirements due to these supply issues. This shortage has also fueled historic rallies for other dominant memory players, including South Korea-based Samsung and SK Hynix.

Parallel to the memory surge is a renewed focus on the CPU market. While GPUs handle the heavy parallel processing required for AI training, CPUs are essential for system orchestration and general-purpose computing within the data center. Bank of America estimates that the data center CPU market will expand from $27 billion in 2025 to $60 billion by 2030.

AMD is positioning itself to capture a significant portion of this growth. During a recent earnings call, CEO Lisa Su increased the company’s growth forecast for the server CPU market to 35% over the next three to five years, a substantial rise from the 18% growth projection provided in November 2025.

Intel is also experiencing a resurgence, supported by significant U.S. Government investments initiated in 2025. The company saw its strongest monthly performance on record in April 2026, with its stock value more than doubling, followed by an additional 33% increase in the early days of May 2026.

Beyond semiconductors, the physical infrastructure connecting these chips is undergoing a technical evolution. As AI clusters grow in size, the industry is moving away from traditional copper cabling in favor of fiber-optic solutions to reduce latency and increase bandwidth at rack-scale.

On May 7, 2026, Corning signed a major agreement with Nvidia to develop three new factories in the United States dedicated to optical technologies. This partnership is a strategic step in Nvidia’s transition toward fiber-optic cables for its large-scale system architectures.

The collective movement of these stocks suggests that the AI infrastructure boom is entering a second phase. While the initial phase focused on the raw compute power of the GPU, the current phase emphasizes the supporting ecosystem—memory, CPUs, and high-speed interconnects—necessary to sustain and scale generative AI deployments.