The semiconductor sector has been one of the best-performing sectors recently, as evidenced by the 164% gains of the PHLX Semiconductor Sector index over the past three years.
The sector’s impressive gains have been fueled by the rapidly growing need for chips to power artificial intelligence (AI) applications, a trend likely to continue in the next five years. McKinsey estimates that the semiconductor industry’s revenue could jump to $1.6 trillion in 2030 from $775 billion in 2024.
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Chip giant Intel (NASDAQ: INTC) is likely to be a big beneficiary of the semiconductor market’s secular growth. Let’s see how Intel stock could double by 2030.
Shares of Chipzilla have shot up by 126% in the past year, driven by the company’s turnaround efforts that have boosted investor confidence. Intel’s current CEO, Lip-Bu Tan, has been running a tight ship, cutting costs aggressively and scrutinizing every investment to ensure it makes “economic sense.”
Tan has been clear that Intel will only build what its customers need. Not surprisingly, the company has been making good progress in the data center market, where there is strong demand for various kinds of chips. It is worth noting that Intel’s data center and AI (DCAI) revenue increased 15% sequentially in the fourth quarter of 2025, which was the fastest quarter-over-quarter jump this decade.
Intel’s focus on emerging niches of the data center chip market, such as application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs), is paying off. The company recorded an impressive 50% year-over-year increase in revenue in the ASIC business in Q4 2025 and added that this segment is now clocking $1 billion in annualized revenue.
Intel has some notable customers for its ASICs, including Amazon and Microsoft. With the share of ASICs growing at a healthy clip in the AI chip market, Intel is pulling the right strings to help its growth pick up in the long run.
Moreover, there appears to be a strong interest in Intel’s advanced 18A process node from external customers. That’s not surprising, as rival TSMC’s 2nm manufacturing capacity is reportedly fully booked right now, which could push customers toward Intel’s competing manufacturing process, which is reportedly faster.
