The Zhitong Finance App learned that according to TrendForce Jibang Consulting's latest AI server industry research, as AI service vendors actively launch AI agent-related applications, server CPU demand has been growing steadily since the second half of 2025, and it is estimated that the annual increase in shipments will reach 31% in 2026. In 2027, server CPU shipments are expected to increase by more than 40% per year due to continued growth in AI inference demand and increased penetration rate of Agentic AI services, but the market pattern dominated by the x86 camp may change.
TrendForce Jibang Consulting pointed out that due to the rise of AI agent services, it is estimated that the proportion of AI inference workloads in cloud data center servers is increasing, and that the ratio of CPU and GPU/ASIC within servers is gradually changing. Judging from the manufacturer's planned server cabinet solutions and growth trends, it will evolve from the past 1:8 to 1:2 or even 1:1, increasing server CPU shipping momentum.
From the analysis of the competitive landscape, in 2025, the x86 camp, led by Intel (INTC.US) and AMD (AMD.US), dominated nearly 90% of the market, and AMD's share has increased, and the market share of Arm-based architecture products has only just broken through 10%. In 2026, x86 and Arm-based CPUs will all be actively shipped to seek AI inference business opportunities. However, new Intel products faced adjustments in the manufacturing process and packaging stages, and the shipping schedule was delayed. Supported by existing Emerald Rapids and Granite Rapids product lines, they were limited by tight production capacity, and overall shipment growth was affected to a certain extent.
AMD's new product, Venice, has entered small-scale mass production in 2026, and the main shipping force is also on existing Genoa and Turin platforms. Although orders are limited due to tight TSMC (TSMC) production capacity, it is estimated that the market share of AMD server CPUs will grow significantly to around 27% this year.
In addition to AWS (Amazon Cloud Technology) continuing to import self-developed Graviton CPUs, demand for NVIDIA (Nvidia) Grace CPUs also continues to expand, Google (GOOGL.US) self-developed Axion CPUs have entered the mass shipment stage, and Microsoft (MSFT.US) Cobalt 100 and ARM's self-developed AGI have also entered the mass production and shipment stage, making Arm-based CPU shipments grow better than x86 products in 2026. Also, the CPU market share exceeded 20%.
TrendForce Jibang Consulting estimates that the market share of Arm-based CPUs is expected to expand to 30% in 2027. The momentum is mainly driven by NVIDIA Vera CPUs, which will significantly expand shipments, as well as new CPUs such as Google, AWS, Microsoft, OpenAI, Arm, and Huawei (Huawei) entering mass production, and Alibaba (Alibaba)'s launch of new CPUs such as the Yitian 720/730. As for the x86 camp, it is estimated that Intel's new products are still being released in small quantities, while AMD's shipment situation is more stable. Coupled with the expected launch of new products in the first half of 2027, the market share will continue to increase.