Why Intel, Arm, and Other AI Chip Stocks Soared Today

Key Points Autonomous agents are powered by inference, which requires a higher proportion of CPU-based computing. Intel, AMD, and Arm all stand to benefit from higher CPU demand. 10 stocks we like better than Intel › Meta Platform 's (NASDAQ: META) new Muse personal artificial intelligence (AI) agent is off to a fast start. After being the most downloaded free iPhone app in the U.S. for the past three days, according to Sensor Tower, Muse has investors excited about a potential boom in AI agent-fueled sales of central processing units (CPUs). Missed AI’s "Act 1"? Act 2 Could Be 15x Bigger. Most investors think they missed the AI boat because they didn't buy Nvidia in 2005. But according to our analysts, we’re only at the end of "Act 1"—the R&D phase. "Act 2" is the global rollout. Continue » That, in turn, is driving up the stock prices of the leading CPU makers. Here's how some of the top AI chip stocks performed on Monday: Arm Holdings (NASDAQ: ARM) , up 17% Intel (NASDAQ: INTC) , up 12% Advanced Micro Devices (NASDAQ: AMD) , up 10% Image source: Getty Images. Meta's Muse is grabbing investors' attention Meta's new AI agent promises to quickly, easily, and securely perform multiple tasks for users, such as sorting email, booking reservations, and managing calendars. Muse is more accessible than other popular agentic AI projects, such as OpenClaw. It's also backed by Meta's tremendous data collection and distribution capabilities, thanks to the social media giant's staggering 3.6 billion daily active users. In turn, analysts believe Muse has the potential to attract hundreds of millions of users in the coming months. That would likely make it the most popular AI agent on the market. AI agents are set to boost demand for CPU makers While AI model training requires mostly GPU-based compute, agentic AI is powered more by inference, which requires a greater proportion of CPUs to handle tasks like planning and orchestration. A forthcoming wave of agentic AI-powered applications is thus expected to drive demand for CPUs sharply higher in the coming years. ARM sees the server CPU market surging by 35% annually to $120 billion by 2030, while AMD predicts 50% annual growth to $220 billion by the end of the decade. As the leading designers of CPUs and related infrastructure, Intel, AMD, and Arm stand to profit handsomely from these trends. Should you buy stock in Intel right now? Before you buy stock in Intel, consider this: The Motley Fool Stock Advisor analyst team just identified what they believe are the 10 best stocks for investors to buy now… and Intel wasn’t one of them. The 10 stocks that made the cut could produce monster returns in the coming years. Consider when Netflix made this list on December 17, 2004... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you’d have $387,158 !* Or when Nvidia made this list on April 15, 2005... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you’d have $1,365,749 !* Now, it’s worth noting Stock Advisor’s total average return is 932 % — a market-crushing outperformance compared to 211% for the S&P 500. Don't miss the latest top 10 list, available with Stock Advisor , and join an investing community built by individual investors for individual investors. See the 10 stocks » *Stock Advisor returns as of September 21, 2026. Joe Tenebruso has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Advanced Micro Devices, Arm Holdings, Intel, and Meta Platforms. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy .

Autonomous agents are powered by inference, which requires a higher proportion of CPU-based computing.

Intel, AMD, and Arm all stand to benefit from higher CPU demand.

Meta Platform 's (NASDAQ: META) new Muse personal artificial intelligence (AI) agent is off to a fast start.

After being the most downloaded free iPhone app in the U.S. for the past three days, according to Sensor Tower, Muse has investors excited about a potential boom in AI agent-fueled sales of central processing units (CPUs).

Missed AI’s "Act 1"? Act 2 Could Be 15x Bigger. Most investors think they missed the AI boat because they didn't buy Nvidia in 2005. But according to our analysts, we’re only at the end of "Act 1"—the R&D phase. "Act 2" is the global rollout. Continue »

That, in turn, is driving up the stock prices of the leading CPU makers. Here's how some of the top AI chip stocks performed on Monday:

Meta's new AI agent promises to quickly, easily, and securely perform multiple tasks for users, such as sorting email, booking reservations, and managing calendars.