For the first time, AMD has overtaken Intel in data center revenue for Q1

AMD recently reported very solid Q1 2026 earnings, thanks in large part to the AI boom and rising semiconductor demand. Of the $10.3 billion in revenue for the first quarter of 2026, $5.8 billion was data center revenue driven by sales of AMD EPYC processors and Instinct GPUs. That is a staggering 55.9% of AMD's total revenue in Q1 2026, and 57% higher than its data center revenue in Q1 2025.

In the process, AMD has overtaken Intel in data center revenue and achieved a new milestone. According to a DigiTimes report, this is the first time AMD has generated more revenue from its data center division than Intel in the first quarter of the year. Although AMD had previously surpassed Intel in other quarters (Team Red has been ahead since the third quarter of 2025), this is the first time they have taken the lead in Q1 as well.

4

AMD generated $4.3 billion from its data center division in Q3 2025, compared with $4.1 billion from Intel. The same trend continued in Q4 2025, with AMD generating $5.4 billion, while Intel managed $4.7 billion. Of course, the Q1 2026 results did not alter this pattern. However, looking at the data compiled by DigiTimes, this might be the start of AMD's long-term dominance that Intel might not be able to shake for some time.

4

We recently heard AMD CEO Dr. Lisa Su weigh in on the debate about whether CPUs are as important as GPUs in Agentic AI deployments. Dr. Su foresees a future in which CPUs may become as important as, or even more important than, GPUs in compute nodes, leading to a 1:1 ratio. The current ratio is about 4:1 or even 8:1 in favor of GPUs, but industry insiders see that balance changing in the near future.

4

The bottleneck is supply, especially given TSMC's backlog and Intel Foundry's rocky start. AMD and Intel have both raised CPU prices recently, and AMD is also exploring external suppliers like Samsung to expand manufacturing capacity, while Intel is looking to ramp up its 18A, 18A-P, and 14A nodes.

Intel and Google have entered a long-term agreement to deploy Xeon chips, and Arm has also thrown its hat into the mix with Arm AGI, while AMD is looking to deploy its Venice and Verano platforms. It remains to be seen how the data center scene changes in the near future, and whether Intel will be able to claw back the lion's share from AMD.