The race in AI is no longer just about building better models. It is now about owning the chips that power them.
Amazon.com (AMZN), Microsoft Corporation (MSFT), Alphabet (GOOG) (GOOGL), and Meta Platforms (META) are expected to spend as much as $725 billion combined in 2026, mostly on AI data centers, custom chips, and networking hardware. That spending push has made chips a key battleground. Intel Corporation (INTC) just showed how serious this is by unveiling its Crescent Island AI data center GPU at Computex 2026, going after Nvidia Corporation (NVDA) and Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) as companies race to lock in chip supply.