The AI infrastructure boom is redefining a number of established tech companies. This year, Dell, Nokia, Lenovo, Cisco, Intel, Texas Instruments, and Micron Technology—seven established tech companies—have seen an average increase of 158%, adding approximately $1.7 trillion to their combined market capitalization. Unlike AI-era star companies like Nvidia and Meta, these companies' products are often seen as "boring" hardware infrastructure. However, these long-neglected tech veterans are experiencing a demand inflection point due to the explosive expansion of AI data centers. Neuberger Berman portfolio manager Yan Taw Boon stated that about six months ago, the market began to realize that AI infrastructure construction was accelerating across the board, while the hardware sector, which had seen extremely limited capacity expansion in recent years, was experiencing a severe supply shortage. He said: "Whether it's regular CPUs, network devices, or storage and memory, demand is skyrocketing." Dell: Largest Single-Day Gain in History Confirms Demand for AI Servers. Dell reported revenue of $43.8 billion in the first fiscal quarter of 2027, an 88% year-over-year increase, setting a new record. AI server revenue reached $16.1 billion, a staggering 757% year-over-year increase, with total AI orders reaching $24.4 billion in the quarter. Following the earnings report, Dell's stock price surged 33% on Friday, marking the company's largest single-day gain in history. This financial report clearly demonstrates the strong market demand for its AI servers. Currently, Dell's market capitalization is $125 billion higher than its all-time peak in March 2000. Emmanuel Valavanis of Forte Securities stated that this impressive financial report proves Dell is "another classic example of a former tech dinosaur transforming into a new force in AI." Dell's rebirth was not without its challenges. After the dot-com bubble burst, the company's market capitalization evaporated by more than 80%, and it went private in 2013, only returning to the public market at the end of 2018. Although the company's personal computer business is no longer as booming as it was in the late 1990s, with annual growth exceeding 200%, the rise of its AI server business has opened up new growth opportunities. Lenovo: From PC Giant to AI Revenue Engine Lenovo entered the global arena in 2005 by acquiring IBM's personal computer business, becoming the world's largest PC manufacturer. However, the long-term structural decline in the PC industry has diminished the value of this crown. Faced with industry difficulties, Lenovo transformed and bet on AI products and services, and the results have been proven in its financial data. As reported by Wall Street Insights, Lenovo released its fiscal year 2026 results, showing a 20% increase in revenue over the past year, with AI-related revenue doubling throughout the year, and AI-related businesses accounting for nearly 40% of total sales. In terms of stock price, Lenovo's stock price rose by 105% in May this year, marking its best monthly performance in over 25 years and setting a new historical high. Since the beginning of the year, Lenovo's stock price has risen by 159%, ranking first among the constituent stocks of the Hong Kong Hang Seng Index, with a return more than three times that of the second-ranked stock. Nokia: Two Falls, Finding New Life by Focusing on Network Equipment Nokia suffered a series of setbacks in the 2000s: first, the telecommunications boom subsided, and then its mobile phone business was destroyed by the smartphone wave. Nokia's market capitalization once reached approximately €300 billion, but by 2012, its stock price had plummeted by nearly 98%, making its decline one of the most dramatic cases in technology history. After selling its mobile phone business to Microsoft in 2014, Nokia shifted its strategic focus to the relatively low-profile telecommunications network equipment sector. The acquisition of Infinera, a US-based optical networking specialist, in 2025, coincided with a surge in demand for high-speed computing cluster interconnects from AI data centers, providing a crucial boost to Nokia's recovery. Wall Street Journal reported that Nokia's Q1 operating profit surged 54%, driven by a boom in its AI cloud business, with net sales from AI and cloud customers increasing by 49% in a single quarter and new orders exceeding €1 billion. Year-to-date, Nokia's stock price has risen by over 124%, ranking as the fourth-largest gainer in the Stoxx Europe 600 index. However, due to the excessively high valuation base during the bubble era, its stock price is still about 80% lower than its all-time high closing price. Cisco: From the Peak of the Bubble Era to Returning to a New Historical High. Cisco is perhaps the company that best embodies "rebirth" among these veterans. In 2000, Cisco once topped the world's market capitalization list, subsequently becoming one of the iconic victims of the bursting of the dot-com bubble, and it took a full 25 years to regain its historical high. The company's transformation path is clear: from a traditional network equipment vendor to an AI infrastructure provider. As mentioned by Wall Street Insights, Cisco's earnings report released earlier this month showed strong revenue expectations for the fourth fiscal quarter, while also announcing job cuts to focus on its AI business, indicating continued upward momentum. Since the beginning of the year, Cisco's stock price has risen by 56%, potentially achieving its largest annual excess return relative to the Nasdaq 100 index since 2006. Intel: After four CEOs, a turnaround finally arrives. Less than two years ago, Intel was considered by investors to be a "dying" company, with years of manufacturing problems eroding its former semiconductor leadership and causing its stock price to plummet. Since taking office, current CEO Chen Liwu has been gradually rebuilding market confidence. Wall Street Insights reported that Intel and Apple have reached a preliminary agreement for Intel to manufacture some chips for Apple devices, which is seen by the market as a positive signal that its wafer foundry business is beginning to bear fruit. Previously, Nvidia announced a $5 billion investment in Intel, and Intel also announced that its new Xeon chips would be used in some Nvidia systems, driving its stock price up multiple times. So far this year, Intel's stock price has risen by 211%, and is on track for its best annual performance in history. Texas Instruments and Micron: Undervalued AI Beneficiaries
Texas Instruments and Micron: Undervalued AI Beneficiaries
Texas Instruments was a dominant player in the telecommunications and mobile device chip market in the 1990s, but its stock price plummeted by over 85% from its peak between 2000 and 2002.
Since then, the company has struggled to survive in the automotive and industrial markets and failed to immediately benefit from the early ChatGPT era.
With the increasing demand for higher power density in AI servers, Texas Instruments' chip procurement has increased significantly, and its data center business segment has exceeded $1 billion in annual sales, with a projected growth rate of over 60% by 2025.
Texas Instruments' stock price has surged 76% this year, on track for its best annual performance since 2003. Micron's story is even more dramatic. This memory chip manufacturer, founded in the basement of a dental clinic in Idaho and nearly 50 years old, officially crossed the trillion-dollar market capitalization club this month. As one of the major manufacturers of high-bandwidth memory, Micron directly benefits from the surge in demand driven by the explosion of AI computing power. Over the past 12 months, its stock price has risen by more than 903%, setting a record for the fastest rise from a market capitalization of $500 billion to a trillion dollars, completing this leap in just 48 trading days.
JinseFinance
Clement
decrypt
Cointelegraph
Bitcoinist