15 Best Performing AI Stocks Heading into 2026

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8. Intel Corporation (NASDAQ:INTC)

Year-to-Date Performance: 81.90%

Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 81

Intel Corporation (NASDAQ:INTC) is one of the best-performing AI stocks heading into 2026. On November 18, Intel Corporation (NASDAQ:INTC) shared its strategic plans at the RBC Capital Markets Global Technology, Internet, Media and Telecommunications (TIMT) Conference 2025.

John Pitzer, corporate vice president, Global Treasury and Investor Relations, at Intel Corporation (NASDAQ:INTC) led the discussion. He talked about the company’s efforts to improve margins, increase market share, AI strategy and some challenges it is facing. The company is dealing with supply constraints, which are expected to peak in the first quarter of 2026.

A key part of Intel Corporation’s (NASDAQ:INTC) strategy includes the $5 billion investment by NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ:NVDA), which is expected to close by the end of the year. As part of this partnership, Intel Corporation (NASDAQ:INTC) will provide a custom Xeon part for data centers. NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ:NVDA) will integrate this chip and manage the go-to-market strategy.

Intel Corporation (NASDAQ:INTC) is also focused on its AI strategy, which includes advancements in PC and server markets. The company is also focusing on inference-specialized GPUs that support agentic and physical AI.

Pitzer noted that improving gross margins is very important for Intel Corporation (NASDAQ:INTC). The company is making efforts to become more cost-efficient, especially because data center margins are currently somewhat depressed.

Intel Corporation (NASDAQ:INTC) is an American company that manufactures central processing units (CPUs) and semiconductors.

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