In recent years, American semiconductor giant Nvidia (NASDAQ: NVDA) has been synonymous with the AI revolution, with its GPUs forming the backbone of the sector.

Notably, the company’s dominance has been fueled by advanced hardware, a robust software ecosystem, and strong relationships with major technology players.

Meanwhile, as AI adoption accelerates and the market for specialized chips grows, new competitors are emerging, each aiming to challenge Nvidia’s hegemony in both data-center and AI infrastructure markets. 

To this end, below are two stocks to watch for 2026, as they stand a strong chance of challenging Nvidia’s dominance.

Advanced Micro Devices (NASDAQ: AMD)

Among the companies looking to make significant inroads by 2026, Advanced Micro Devices (NASDAQ: AMD) is perhaps the most formidable, having shown signs of competing with Nvidia chips.

AMD’s Instinct MI-series GPUs, including the MI300X and MI350, are increasingly capable of rivaling Nvidia’s high-end offerings in large-scale AI training. These GPUs deliver compelling performance-per-dollar value, an attribute that has caught the attention of major AI developers and cloud providers seeking to optimize costs without compromising efficiency.

AMD has also secured critical design wins with major AI players such as OpenAI, signaling that its chips are not only theoretically competitive but are being adopted in real-world deployments.

Beyond hardware, AMD has invested heavily in its ROCm software stack, narrowing the gap with Nvidia’s ecosystem and making it easier for developers to migrate workloads.

These developments have positioned AMD as a serious contender for capturing a growing share of the AI GPU market.

By press time, AMD stock was trading at $217.43, having rallied 80% year to date.

Qualcomm (NASDAQ: QCOM)

Qualcomm (NASDAQ: QCOM), meanwhile, is carving a niche in the AI data-center space with its AI200 and AI250 chips, designed specifically for inference workloads.

While Nvidia dominates high-end training, inference is a rapidly expanding segment where memory bandwidth and energy efficiency are critical. Qualcomm’s chips promise higher memory throughput and lower power consumption, translating into significant cost savings for organizations running large-scale AI inference operations.

Early reports indicate that several data-center operators plan to deploy Qualcomm’s solutions, demonstrating initial commercial traction and validating their efficiency-focused approach.

At the close of the last market session, QCOM stock was trading at $168, up almost 10% year to date.

While Nvidia’s dominance is far from over, these emerging competitors illustrate a market in transition. They have the potential to take over, provided the AI market remains strong and they continue to deliver on their growth projections.

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