It also makes essential networking gear that large server clusters need to tie thousands of AI chips together. "Why it's really shooting up is because they're talking about AI, AI, AI, AI," Eric Ross, chief investment strategist at Cascend, told CNBC's "Squawk Box" earlier this month. Until four years ago, Intel was the world's most valuable chipmaker, nearing a $300 billion market cap in early 2020. While 2024 has been a breakout year for Broadcom — AI revenue increased 220% — the month of December has put it in record territory. In addition to AI chips, AI server clusters need powerful networking parts to train the most advanced models.

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Persons: Hock Tan, Pat Gelsinger, Gordon Moore, Robert Noyce, Arthur Rock, XPUs, Eric Ross, CNBC's, Paul Argenti, Nvidia —, they're, Piper Sandler, Harsh Kumar, Tan, Cantor, C.J, Muse, Frank Yeary, It's, Gaudi, Michelle Holthaus, Holthaus, David Zinsner, Gelsinger, Zinsner Organizations: Broadcom, Intel, Reuters, CNBC, Intel's Santa, Avago, Google, Nvidia, Microsoft, Dartmouth's Tuck School of Business, Apple, Dow Jones, Qualcomm, VMware, Software, ARM, AMD, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, Gaudi, Barclays Locations: Silicon, Palo Alto , California, Intel's, Intel's Santa Clara, OpenAI, U.S, Taipei