The AI Rally Just Flipped—These Stocks Are Now Outgunning Nvidia

The artificial intelligence rally that made Nvidia Corp. (NASDAQ:NVDA) a market juggernaut appears to have entered a new phase in 2025, as a sharp rotation in semiconductor leadership has seen rivals outperform the AI front-runner.

Despite rising nearly 14% through the end of June, Nvidia now lags behind a group of chipmakers delivering significantly stronger gains.

Crucially, Nvidia’s long-held outperformance over the broader chip sector—tracked by the Invesco PHLX Semiconductor ETF (NASDAQ:SOXQ)—has nearly evaporated in the first half of the year.

Is this just a pause in Nvidia's dominance, or the beginning of a more permanent shift in the AI hardware race?

Nvidia Is No Longer The Top Chip Gainer

After dominating the AI-fueled bull runs of 2023 and 2024, Nvidia has posted a modest year-to-date gain of 13.6% as of June 25, fully recovering from a Deepseek-driven selloff in January.

But while Nvidia is in the green, several rival chipmakers have surged ahead.

Micron Technology Inc. (NASDAQ:MU) leads the pack, up 44.5% through June. KLA Corp. (NASDAQ:KLAC) follows with a 40.4% gain, and Lam Research Corp. (NASDAQ:LRCX) has jumped 32.9%.

Other notable performers ...