Let’s be real: the chip world has been a bloodbath lately. For years, the narrative around Intel was basically a long-winded obituary. Critics said they lost their lead, their lunch, and their way. But things just took a weirdly confident turn. Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan—who took the reins after Pat Gelsinger retired in late 2024—recently dropped a figure that has the industry doing a collective double-take. He claims the company still holds a solid 55% of the data centre market.
Wait, what?
If you’ve been following the Nvidia "moon mission" or AMD’s slow-and-steady conquest with its EPYC processors, 55% might sound like a hallucination. How can a company that’s been "struggling" still claim more than half the pie? Honestly, it comes down to how you define the "pie."
The Math Behind the 55% Claim
When we talk about the data centre market, most people immediately think of AI training. They think of massive clusters of Nvidia H100s or the new Blackwell chips. If that’s the only metric you care about, Intel isn't at 55%. Not even close.
But the data centre is a massive, sprawling ecosystem. It's not just AI. It’s the "boring" stuff that keeps the world running:
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- Web hosting and cloud computing.
- Database management.
- Enterprise ERP systems.
- Legacy applications that haven't moved to ARM or specialized AI silicon yet.
Basically, for every flashy AI GPU being installed, there are still dozens of traditional server CPUs doing the heavy lifting of moving data around. This is where the 55% figure lives. Intel isn't just counting the newest, shiniest AI accelerators; they’re counting the sheer volume of x86 server shipments where they still hold a dominant, albeit shrinking, lead over AMD.
Mercury Research recently noted that while AMD has surged to nearly 28% of the server unit share, Intel is still the incumbent. They’ve got the relationships. They’ve got the "nobody ever got fired for buying Intel" legacy. And as of early 2026, they're leveraging a massive install base that is finally ready for a hardware refresh.
Why Intel CEO Says Company Has 55% of Data Centre Market Now
The timing of this announcement isn't accidental. Intel is currently in the middle of what people are calling the "Silicon Renaissance." After the brutal layoffs of 2024 and the government effectively becoming a "silent partner" through the CHIPS Act, the company has a point to prove.
The 55% claim is a signal to Wall Street: We are still the foundation of the internet.
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The "18A" Factor
You can't talk about Intel’s market share without talking about 18A. That’s their newest manufacturing node. It’s the "make or break" moment for the company. Reports from early 2026 suggest that 18A yields are actually looking good—good enough that even "frenemy" Nvidia reportedly put down a $5 billion investment to secure future packaging capacity with Intel.
Xeon 6 and Clearwater Forest
Intel's recent launch of the Xeon 6 family has been a quiet powerhouse. They finally stopped trying to beat AMD at its own game and started focusing on performance-per-watt for hyperscalers. The "Clearwater Forest" chips, built on that 18A node, are specifically designed for the massive, power-hungry data centres that AWS and Google are building.
The Reality Check: Is 55% Sustainable?
Look, we shouldn't sugarcoat it. Keeping 55% of the market is going to be an uphill battle. AMD’s "Venice" EPYC chips are monsters. And then there's the ARM "intrusion."
Companies like Amazon (Graviton), Google (Axion), and Microsoft (Cobalt) are now designing their own chips. Every time a cloud provider builds its own ARM-based CPU, that’s a direct hit to Intel’s 55% stake. They aren't just fighting AMD anymore; they're fighting their own biggest customers.
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However, Intel has a weird ace up its sleeve: Sovereign AI. Governments are terrified of being dependent on Taiwan (TSMC) for all their chips. Because Intel is the only company building leading-edge fabs on U.S. soil, they are becoming the "safe" choice for government and defense data centres. That "Sovereignty" factor might keep their market share higher than pure performance benchmarks would suggest.
What This Means for You (The Actionable Part)
If you’re an IT decision-maker or an investor, don't write Intel off just because the headlines have been messy.
- Look at the TCO (Total Cost of Ownership): Intel’s Gaudi 3 accelerators are being positioned as the "budget-friendly" alternative to Nvidia. They claim 40% faster time-to-train versus the H100 for certain models at a fraction of the price. If you’re running inference and don't need the absolute peak of Nvidia’s performance, Intel is a legitimate cost-saver.
- Audit Your Refresh Cycle: With the 18A node coming online, the performance jump from 12th or 13th gen Xeon servers to the new stuff is massive. It’s the first time in a decade Intel actually has a manufacturing lead (or at least parity) with TSMC.
- Watch the Foundry Moves: If you’re an investor, the 55% market share in products is one thing, but the foundry business is the real story. If Intel starts making chips for Apple or Nvidia at scale, the data centre market share becomes almost secondary to their role as the world's "Western Fab."
The tech world loves a comeback story, and while Intel isn't back on the throne yet, they’re definitely done apologizing for being in the room. Whether that 55% holds through 2027 depends entirely on whether the 18A node delivers on its promises. For now, they’ve at least stopped the bleeding.
To stay ahead of the curve, keep a close eye on the Q2 2026 earnings reports. Specifically, look for the "Foundry Services" revenue line—if that number moves up alongside the data centre share, the turnaround is officially real. Be ready to pivot your infrastructure strategy if Intel’s 18A yields continue to outperform expectations, as the price-to-performance gap with competitors could close faster than anyone predicted.