The fervor and seemingly unrelenting wave of capital expenditure in artificial intelligence (AI) is fueling a powerful resurgence for a group of established technology companies.
These firms, many of which were stars of the dot-com era, had gradually receded from the spotlight as the bubble burst and a new generation of tech giants emerged.
However, the scramble to build AI infrastructure has triggered surging demand across computer servers, storage components, networking gear, and even traditional chips, igniting a global rally in stocks connected to these sectors.
This surge has even revived memories for some veteran Wall Street traders of long-forgotten portfolio themes, such as the "Four Horsemen."
In recent times, three of those horsemen—Cisco, Intel, and Dell—have seen their stock performance far outpace that of Microsoft, the only one of the four still widely considered to be at the forefront of tech trends.
Alongside these three, other high-flyers from the internet era rekindling investor enthusiasm this year include Micron Technology, Texas Instruments, Nokia, and Lenovo.
Collectively, these seven stocks have soared an average of 158% in 2026, adding a combined $1.7 trillion in market value.
"About six months ago, we began to realize the scope of AI infrastructure build-out was expanding massively with severe supply shortages, especially in those 'boring' hardware areas where capacity expansion had been very limited over the past few years," said Yan Taw Boon, a portfolio manager at Neuberger Berman.
"Now demand is surging—from 'boring' CPUs to networking equipment, passive components, storage, and memory, without exception."
From a former mobile phone maker to a reinvented computer producer, here are the latest cases of veteran tech firms making a remarkable comeback:
**Micron Technology**
Micron officially joined the trillion-dollar market capitalization club last week, nearly 50 years after its founding in the basement of a dental clinic in Boise, Idaho.
The memory chipmaker saw its stock soar in the late 1990s after acquiring Texas Instruments' memory business, becoming one of the world's largest memory producers.
From its peak in July 2000 to its trough in November 2008, its market value evaporated by over 98%. It did not surpass its previous all-time high again until early 2022.
Over the past year, however, the stock has become a poster child for downstream beneficiaries of the AI spending boom.
As a leading manufacturer of high-bandwidth memory (HBM), the company is seeing demand for its chips far outstrip supply.
Its share price has skyrocketed over 903% in 12 months, setting a record for the fastest leap from a $500 billion to a $1 trillion valuation, achieved in just 48 trading days.
**Texas Instruments**
Headquartered in Dallas, Texas, Texas Instruments was the undisputed leader in analog chips during the 1990s.
Its chips, which convert real-world signals into digital ones (0s and 1s), were the lifeblood of telecom equipment and mobile phones at the time.
As telecom network build-outs slowed and demand waned, its stock fell more than 85% from peak to trough between 2000 and 2002.
In the early days of the ChatGPT-led AI era, Texas Instruments had a weak start due to fluctuating demand from automotive and industrial market customers.
However, as chip demand increased for higher-power-density AI servers, its sales began to accelerate.
The company's data center business now generates over $1 billion in annual sales, with revenue from this segment growing more than 60% in 2025.
So far this year, Texas Instruments' stock has surged 76%, on track for its best annual performance since 2003.
**Intel**
Less than two years ago, Intel's former dominance in semiconductors seemed consigned to history, plagued by long-standing process technology constraints, with some investors even writing it off entirely.
Today, its road to redemption and return to prominence has been dramatic.
The company cycled through four CEOs in the past decade.
Current CEO Lip-Bu Tan, who took the helm last year to widespread Wall Street acclaim, quickly stabilized the situation after a brief political storm involving a call for his resignation, ultimately securing a strategic investment from the U.S. government.
NVIDIA followed with a $5 billion investment. In March, Intel's stock surged again when it announced its new Xeon chips were being used in some NVIDIA systems.
Last month, the stock hit a record high after Intel issued a sales forecast that far exceeded Wall Street's expectations.
Earlier this month, media reports indicated Intel had reached a preliminary agreement with Apple to produce some chips for its devices, seen as a win for Intel's foundry business.
Year-to-date, Intel's stock is up 211%, poised for its best performance on record.
**Dell Technologies**
Last Friday, Dell's stock soared 33%, marking its largest single-day gain ever.
The surge followed earnings from the hardware maker, famous for its PC business, which revealed skyrocketing demand for its AI servers.
The jump may evoke memories of Dell's heyday in the late 1990s, when its stock rose over 200% for three consecutive years.
After the dot-com bust wiped out over 80% of its market value, Dell was taken private in 2013.
It returned to public markets in late 2018, and its current market capitalization is now $125 billion above its March 2000 peak of $148 billion.
Emmanuel Valavanis of Forte Securities stated that the latest stunning earnings report proves Dell is "the latest company seen as a tech 'dinosaur' to be reborn as an AI giant."
**Lenovo Group**
Lenovo made its name on the global stage with its landmark acquisition of IBM's personal computer division in 2005.
The deal gave it rights to the iconic ThinkPad line of business laptops and set the stage for it to eventually become the world's largest PC maker.
Although the PC industry has been in a prolonged downturn for years, Lenovo's push into AI products and services helped the Chinese computer hardware company achieve 20% revenue growth over the past year.
Nearly 40% of its total sales now come from these businesses.
Lenovo's U.S.-listed ADRs surged 105% throughout May, hitting a record high and marking their best monthly performance in over 25 years.
With a year-to-date gain of 159%, the stock also leads the Hong Kong Hang Seng Index constituents, delivering more than triple the return of the second-best performer.
**Nokia**
Nokia faced successive setbacks in the 2000s: first, the telecom boom turned to bust, then its mobile phone business was hit by the rise of smartphones.
From a peak market value of €300 billion, the stock had fallen a cumulative 98% by 2012.
After selling its handset business to Microsoft in 2014, Nokia undertook a difficult rebirth centered on its less glamorous telecom network equipment business.
Its most recent comprehensive recovery has been significantly aided by its timely acquisition of U.S. optical communications company Infinera in 2025.
This move coincided with an explosive growth in demand for high-speed connections between compute clusters in AI data centers.
Year-to-date, Nokia's stock has surged over 124%, making it the fourth-best performer in the STOXX Europe 600 Index.
Despite this, the stock has not yet returned to its dot-com era highs and remains nearly 80% below its all-time closing peak.
**Cisco Systems**
If any company exemplifies the "renaissance" of these veteran tech stocks, it is perhaps Cisco.
The undisputed king of networking equipment, Cisco was the definitive face of the dot-com era and briefly held the title of the world's most valuable company in 2000.
The company has now pivoted from its traditional networking business to become an AI infrastructure provider.
Its earnings report earlier this month demonstrated success in the AI age, providing a strong revenue forecast for its fiscal fourth quarter and announcing job cuts to focus its transformation on AI.
These financials served as the latest evidence that its business is back on a growth trajectory, extending the strong momentum established last year with an inflection point in AI-related demand.
Driven by this force, the stock has finally returned to its historical highs, surpassing its March 2000 peak.
Year-to-date in 2026, Cisco's stock has gained 56% and is on track to post its largest annual outperformance versus the Nasdaq 100 Index since 2006.
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