US chipmakers hit record highs as Intel surges past its best performance since 1987

The semiconductor industry reached a historic milestone as US chip stocks climbed to all-time highs. Leading the charge was Intel, which delivered its strongest single-day performance since 1987, signaling that the artificial intelligence (AI) boom is far from over, a report by CNBC has said. Intel’s shares skyrocketed 24% in a single day – a performance which is the best the company has seen in nearly 40 years.The Philadelphia SE Semiconductor Index, the primary benchmark for the industry, jumped 3.2% to a record high. This marks an incredible 18-day winning streak for the index, which has now surged more than 47% in 2026 alone. Intel’s turnaround is credited to CEO Lip-Bu Tan, who took over early last year. Tan has successfully stabilised the company’s finances, secured major investments from the Trump administration, and landed a critical $5 billion investment from rival Nvidia last September.Intel’s first-quarter earnings report proved that the company is back on track. The revenue rose 7.2% to $13.58 billion, beating market estimates. Revenue in data centre growth sector jumped 22% to $5.1 billion, driven by the massive demand for CPUs to support AI infrastructure.While Intel grabbed the headlines, the rest of the sector also saw massive gains. Investors are increasingly confident that AI demand is boosting every player in the field. Both AMD and Arm rose 13.7% and 12%, respectively. Nvidia, which is the world’s most valuable company climbed 1.6%, continuing its dominance in the GPU market used for training AI models.Intel is looking toward 2028. CEO Lip-Bu Tan announced that the company is “going big time” into its next-generation 14A manufacturing technology. While Intel previously struggled with manufacturing delays, Tan informed investors that multiple customers are already evaluating this new technology.Analysts at Citi have also upgraded the stock, predicting a long-term “uplift” in processor sales across the entire industry as AI becomes the foundation of modern computing.