AMD says it will outsell Intel for the first time in its history as Epyc and Instinct sales soar on AI demand

AMD has announced it will outperform Intel for the first time in the company's history as sales of its Epyc and Instinct processors surge due to growing demand for artificial intelligence technology. In Q3, AMD's data center sales nearly doubled to $8.5 billion, representing 64% of total sales, a significant increase from 47% a year earlier.

This growth was driven by the launch of the Instinct MI455X GPUs and Helios racks, with major AI players such as Anthropic, Meta, Microsoft, OpenAI, and Oracle bringing their first racks online. AMD's CEO, Lisa Su, revealed that this was the first quarter AMD shipped these accelerators and racks, marking a turning point in the companies' long-standing rivalry.

Intel, meanwhile, is expected to generate around $16.3 billion in revenue for the same period, primarily due to the impact of the October 14 explosion at its Fab 28 facility in Israel, which led to a $300 million reduction in revenue. Despite this setback, Intel's overall data center group grew by 78%, indicating a strong performance.

AMD's data center segment has previously outperformed Intel's equivalent group, but this recent revenue explosion has put the company in an insurmountable position for the short term. However, Intel still maintains a dominant position in the x86 CPU market, holding 65.9% of the market in Q2 2026. AMD's revenue is bolstered by additional businesses such as Xilinx-derived embedded chips and console silicon, but the company acknowledges that it cannot build everything it could sell, as demand for its products continues to outpace supply.