Circuit Rift · VIDEO ESSAY

The World’s Biggest Tech Companies Are Ditching Intel — Here’s What’s Happening

Subscribe to the channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCFCreaqrv8fObrfbBMavX9Q?sub_confirmation=1 The world's biggest tech companies are ditching Intel, and the numbers show how fast it is happening. Ninety-eight percent of Amazon Web Services' top 1,000 EC2 customers have used Amazon's own Arm-based Graviton chips, and Graviton has supplied more than half of AWS's new CPU capacity for three years in a row. In April 2026 Meta agreed to bring tens of millions of Graviton cores into its fleet, Microsoft runs Teams and Azure SQL on its own Cobalt processors, Google moved customers like Spotify, Databricks and MongoDB onto Axion, and Nvidia replaced the Intel Xeons of its DGX H100 with its own Arm-based Grace and Vera CPUs. Apple finished leaving Intel in 2023, and Nvidia's Arm-based RTX Spark laptops start shipping in October 2026. In this breakdown we follow the money: Intel's flagship Xeon 6980P cut from $17,800 to $12,460 four months after launch, AMD's record 46.2% share of x86 server CPU revenue (Mercury Research, Q1 2026), Arm's own estimate that close to half of the compute shipped to the top hyperscalers in 2025 was Arm-based, and UBS's estimate that the server CPU market could grow from about $30 billion in 2025 to around $170 billion by 2030. We also give Intel's side its due, with Q2 2026 revenue of $16.1 billion, up 25%, under CEO Lip-Bu Tan, and then trace who actually manufactures the chips replacing Intel, from TSMC's 3nm lines to Intel's own deals with Google and Nvidia. Finally, we go back to the Intel Inside sticker that started it all in 1991. At the time of this recording (October 2026). Intel's 2026 PC CPU price increases are as reported by TweakTown and Tech Insider and have not been confirmed by Intel. Market-share figures are Mercury Research estimates for x86 processors; the 50% Arm figure is Arm's own estimate. The Google TPU order was reported by Reuters and has not been confirmed by Google or Intel. Sources: - Amazon, "AWS Introduces Graviton5, the Company's Most Powerful and Efficient CPU," December 3, 2025: https://press.aboutamazon.com/2025/12/aws-introduces-graviton5-the-companys-most-powerful-and-efficient-cpu - Meta Newsroom, "Meta Partners With AWS on Graviton Chips to Power Agentic AI," April 24, 2026: https://about.fb.com/news/2026/04/meta-partners-with-aws-on-graviton-chips-to-power-agentic-ai/ - Intel, "Intel Reports Second-Quarter 2026 Financial Results," July 23, 2026: https://www.intc.com/news-events/press-releases/detail/1776/intel-reports-second-quarter-2026-financial-results - Tom's Hardware, "AMD reaches 46% of server x86 CPU revenue, Intel still controls 70% of the consumer PC market share," 2026: https://www.tomshardware.com/pc-components/cpus/amd-reaches-46-percent-of-server-x86-cpu-revenue-intel-still-controls-70-percent-of-the-consumer-pc-market-share - HotHardware, "Intel Slashes Xeon 6 CPU Prices By Up To 30% In EPYC Data Center Fight With AMD," 2025: https://hothardware.com/news/intel-slash-gnr-prices - InfoQ, "AWS Graviton5 GA," June 2026 - TechRadar, "Has x86 lost the data center battle? Arm claims victory as it declares close to 50 percent of compute shipped to top hyperscalers in 2025 will be Arm-based," 2025 - Google Cloud Blog, "Google Axion powers Cloud SQL and AlloyDB," April 9, 2025 - TrendForce, "Intel Foundry Gains Momentum as Google Reportedly Orders 3M TPUs," June 9, 2026 - Network World, "Intel's AI pivot could make lower-end PCs scarce in 2026," 2026 Sound effects: Pixabay (dariocoiro, dragon-studio, floraphonic, freesound community, gregorquendel, keannix, ksjsbwuil, rohhsadotcom, sdanezis, soundreality, u 31vnwfmzt6, universfield, virtual vibes) · Music: Pixabay (leberch) You can contact me at: circuitrift@proton.me This channel is made by an enthusiast who loves business and technology history — nothing more. All videos are for educational and entertainment purposes only and reflect my personal views and interpretations. I research each story carefully using publicly available sources, but errors or omissions can happen. Nothing here is professional, financial, or legal advice, and this channel is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by any company mentioned.