A year ago, few would’ve expected Intel Corp (NASDAQ:INTC) and Advanced Micro Devices Inc (NASDAQ:AMD) to top the S&P 500 charts. But in 2025, that’s exactly what’s happening.
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Chips Outshine The Giants
Among the Mag 7 and their YTD gains:
- Apple Inc (NASDAQ:AAPL), +10%
- Microsoft Corp (NASDAQ:MSFT), +29%
- Meta Platforms Inc (NASDAQ:META), +25%
- Tesla Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA), +21%
- Alphabet Inc (NASDAQ:GOOGL) (NASDAQ:GOOG), +41%
- Amazon.com Inc (NASDAQ:AMZN), +4%
The company with the largest gain is Nvidia Corp’s (NASDAQ:NVDA), up 45% this year. Investors are now looking beyond Nvidia’s dominance—toward the companies catching up. AMD has surged 114% year-to-date, and Intel is up 105%, handily outperforming the Magnificent Seven heavyweights.
Intel’s foundry revival and AMD’s momentum in data centers have turned both into high-conviction AI plays, not just old-line chipmakers.
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A Quiet Rotation In Tech
For most of the past two years, Big Tech led the market narrative. Now, a quiet rotation is underway. Investors are broadening their AI exposure beyond trillion-dollar names, betting that the next phase of AI growth will be about who enables it, not just who applies it.
Intel’s manufacturing push and AMD’s aggressive product roadmap have revived their growth stories. And their performance shows how quickly leadership can shift when a structural trend like AI hardware expands.
Why It Matters
The market’s message is clear: AI gains aren’t limited to the Magnificent 7 anymore. With Intel and AMD up triple digits this year, chip momentum has officially moved to the next layer of the stack — and the gap between old and new leaders is narrowing fast.
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