By Chris Neiger
Publication Date: 2026-09-25 11:02:00
For years, I thought Nvidia (NVDA -0.41%) was in a league of its own. And I was mostly right, considering that the company still holds about 86% of the data graphics processing unit (GPU) market.
That dominance helped Nvidia become the $5.4 trillion company that it is today, as artificial intelligence companies scoop up as many of Nvidia’s GPUs as they can for their data centers.
But one of Nvidia’s chip rivals, Advanced Micro Devices (AMD +2.38%), is carving out its own semiconductor niche in the current AI supercycle that I never saw coming.
Here’s how AMD is benefiting from AI and why there’s plenty of room for both companies to benefit.
Image source: The Motley Fool.
Data center push is big enough for both
AMD is a chip designer, just like Nvidia. Still, for years, it’s been in Nvidia’s shadow because its GPU market share was much smaller than its rival’s and because Nvidia’s processors were the best for training artificial intelligence.
Not much has changed — and Nvidia’s processors are still in high demand — but what’s different now is that central processing units (CPUs) are beginning to have their day in the sun.
As AI agents have become more popular, tech companies are shifting attention back to CPUs because they’re very good at processing agentic tasks quickly. Up until recently, the majority of processors in a data center were GPUs, but there’s now an increasing need for CPUs.
AMD CEO Lisa Su said on the company’s first-quarter 2026 earnings call that the…
