Once upon a time, a chipmaker didn’t matter unless it was Intel (INTC) .
In the 1990s and early 2000s, Intel dominated the PC CPU market, with a market share routinely falling in the 70% to 80% range, generating tens of billions in annual sales.
Over the years, Intel solidified its control through scale, manufacturing prowess, and integration with Microsoft’s Windows ecosystem.
At the same time, Nvidia (NVDA) was a relatively small GPU player, focusing more on graphics cards and niche applications, particularly in the video gaming space.
Fast forward to today, and Nvidia’s now commanding the lion’s share of the AI accelerator and data center GPU market.
Some experts peg its hold in those sectors between 70% and 95%, leaving legacy chip giants like Intel scrambling to catch up. Also, Nvidia’s Q2 2026 sales hit an eye-popping $46 billion, and its data center arm alone posted $21.9 billion, over 50% of that quarter’s total.
In light of that reversal, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang’s latest comment about Intel in his conversation with Jim Cramer didn’t read like business as usual.
His sharp take was not only bold, but also surprising enough to shift the tone of the tech war in one line.
Image source: Berry/Getty Images
Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang delivers shock take on Intel
In a candid exchange on CNBC’s “Mad Money,” Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang stunned viewers and perhaps the investing world with perhaps one of the most blunt remarks of his career.
Intel dedicated 33 years of our lives trying to kill us, Huang told host Jim Cramer, before adding with a grin, That was actually a mission. Not dead yet.
The comment marked a reversal for two businesses that arguably defined Silicon Valley’s fiercest rivalry.
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Intel, founded in 1968, has been the world’s most prolific chipmaker, generating nearly $55.3 billion in sales for 2024.
Nvidia, by comparison, has grown to over $130 billion in fiscal 2025, with its market cap skyrocketing to $4.5 trillion, more than 25 times that of Intel.
But Huang wasn’t taking a victory lap.
We’re lovers, not fighters, he said. If you have an imagination about the future, it’s possible to bring other people along.
That “imagination” now entails an unlikely partnership.
Nvidia recently invested a head-turning $5 billion in Intel, as part of which Intel’s foundry division will develop custom microprocessors for Nvidia.
Also, Nvidia co-develops a new powerful chip for emerging markets. The nifty move also gives Nvidia an added manufacturing option beyond TSMC.
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Further, Huang confirmed that Nvidia may take a stake in OpenAI.
More importantly, he revealed that for the first time, Nvidia may sell GPUs directly to the ChatGPT creator, rather than opting for cloud partners such as Microsoft Azure or Oracle as a middleman.
That tightens Nvidia’s grip on the AI supply chain, where it’s already commanding margins north of 75%.
As for China, Huang said Nvidia’s near-term forecast assumes “China’s zero.”
He did say, though, that any relaxation of export restrictions would be a bonus. Still, he cautioned policymakers against a complete ban, warning it would negatively impact American businesses in the long term.
Quick Takeaways
- Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang said Intel “tried to kill us for 33 years” before calling it a partner.
- Nvidia has invested a whopping $5 billion in Intel to co-develop custom chips and expand manufacturing options.
- Huang confirmed Nvidia may take a stake in OpenAI and sell GPUs directly to the ChatGPT maker.
- Nvidia’s latest guidance assumes “China’s zero,” which means no contribution from that market in the near term.
Jim Cramer believes Nvidia CEO plans decades ahead of Wall Street’s timeline
Jim Cramer didn’t mince words when describing Nvidia’s visionary leader after hosting him at CNBC’s “Mad Money” Investing Club meeting.
Jensen Huang has a view 20 years ahead, not two quarters ahead, Cramer said, calling the Nvidia CEO one of the few executives in tech who teaches more like a Socratic philosopher than a salesman.
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Cramer reminded viewers that he first recommended Nvidia stock back in 2009, and since then, it has surged over 4,600%, turning $20,000 into roughly $1 million. “Nvidia has minted many millionaires,” he said, “and some of them were in that room.”
Cramer also reflected on what made him go all-in on the stock years ago.
He reminisced about discovering Nvidia’s technology inside an Audi showroom and subsequently realizing it wasn’t purely a gaming chip company. That moment, he added, convinced him Huang was “building something no one else saw coming.”
When asked about whether AI stocks were in a bubble, Cramer pushed back, saying that,
If you actually read up on what Jensen’s doing, you realize it’s a $4 trillion company no one thought could ever be a trillion. It can go higher.
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