AMD has seen significant success following the launch of its MI300 and MI400 series GPUs.
Intel’s data center business showed inconsistent results.
AMD continues to win deals with hyperscalers, while Intel seeks to reinvent itself.
10 stocks we like better than Advanced Micro Devices ›
Perhaps the most important piece of technology powering generative AI development is an advanced chipset known as the graphics processing unit (GPU).
While Nvidia Pioneering these chips, two of the company’s cohorts in the semiconductor space — Advanced Micro Devices(NASDAQ: AMD) and Intel(NASDAQ: INTC) — looking to make headway as investments in artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure accelerate.
Let’s break down the current picture between AMD and Intel, and evaluate which chipmaker is better positioned for the proliferation of the AI infrastructure era.
Image source: Getty Images.
The AI revolution has featured a number of different GPU series. For Nvidia, the company’s Hopper architecture was once coveted as the best chips money can buy. But over the last few years, Nvidia has introduced successor chips – namely, Blackwell and the upcoming Rubin architecture.
Similarly, AMD has begun to gain traction in the data center landscape through its Instinct MI300 accelerators, launched in the fourth quarter of 2023.
As the chart below shows, AMD’s data center business generated similar levels of revenue to Intel’s within about six months after the release of Instinct.
Image source: The Motley Fool.
During the third quarter of 2025, AMD’s data center segment generated $4.3 billion in revenue – up 22% year over year. In contrast, Intel’s data center business reported $4.1 billion of sales – down 1% annually.
Intel is a very diversified business. In addition to its data center operations, the company also sells various hardware products, including microprocessors and other chips, as well as providing foundry services.
A few months ago, Nvidia agreed to invest $5 billion in Intel along with additional funding commitments from the US government and SoftBank. As part of the deal, Intel will be designing next-generation CPU architectures for Nvidia – a potential catalyst for its data center segment.
As the image above shows, AMD’s data center segment has consistently grown at double-digit rates. In contrast, Intel’s growth has been quite inconsistent and appears to be slowing in more recent quarters.
I believe the difference in growth between the two chip makers stems from their different approaches.
AMD offers a combination of hardware — GPUs and CPUs — as well as a software system called ROCm (Radeon Open Compute) — that provides developers with a comprehensive, full-stack suite. This approach is similar to that of Nvidia, which complements its GPUs with a dedicated software platform called CUDA.
By offering both hardware and software, AMD is able to create a lock-in effect with its developer base — putting the company in a position to scale alongside its customers as they continue to invest capital in AI capex.
This strategy has already helped AMD win over the likes of them Microsoft, Meta Platforms, An oracleand OpenAI — each of which is using large clusters of the company’s Instinct accelerators.
Conversely, Intel has been struggling to execute on the innovation front. To further aggravate its operational headache, many hyperscalers now resort to them Taiwan Semiconductor for its foundry services instead of Intel.
During the AI revolution, TSMC saw its market share in the foundry space expand from 56% to 68%. Meanwhile, Intel has lost ground — it now accounts for less than 1% of the market.
While Intel has some intriguing catalysts in the works, it’s hard to know how impactful its relationship with Nvidia will be. For me, Intel remains more of a turnaround story than a concrete winner of the AI infrastructure chapter.
For these reasons, I see AMD as the more strategically positioned data center business. The company’s progress to date seems to be challenging an incumbent such as Intel, and its current momentum against the backdrop of high-profile customer wins and secular themes of a multi-year, multi-trillion dollar infrastructure opportunity may further widen the gap.
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Adam Spatacco holds positions in Meta Platforms, Microsoft, and Nvidia. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Advanced Micro Devices, Intel, Meta Platforms, Microsoft, Nvidia, Oracle, and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing. The Motley Fool recommends the following options: long January 2026 $395 calls on Microsoft, short January 2026 $405 calls on Microsoft, and short November 2025 $21 puts on Intel. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
AMD vs Intel: Which Chipmaker is Poised for Explosive Data Center Growth? was originally published by The Motley Fool
