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Former dot-com darlings Cisco, Intel, and Dell are among the stocks to catch fire in recent months.
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Product they've been making since the dot-com era have suddenly become indispensable to the AI boom.
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Five main examples are unpacked below, with rationale for each.
As Chumbawamba famously put it in the late 90s: "I get knocked down, but I get up again."
Much to the delight of millennials everywhere, the lyric has become a mantra of sorts for many of the tech stocks that thrived during the dot-com boom. Lost in the wilderness for years after an epic market collapse, these companies — and their stock prices — are finding renewed life amid the AI revolution.
The products these firms have been making since the dot-com era — networking equipment, semiconductors, servers, and other hardware — have suddenly become indispensable to the AI boom. They hung on during lean times, and have become newly relevant. Oops! … They did it again .
Let's go company by company, broken down into two distinct categories:
Category 1: Firms whose stocks finally reclaimed dot-com highs
Cisco (+50% YTD)
The latest star of the show is Cisco (not to be confused with 90s-era singer Sisqo ). Its stock rocketed 13% higher on Thursday after the company issued sales guidance above estimates and announced AI-driven job cuts.
It was only just recently — in December 2025, to be exact — that Cisco stock finally overtook its dot-com-era highs . The company makes networking products that are essentially the plumbing of the internet — something that needs a major upgrade for the AI era. That includes switches, routers, and security infrastructure.
Intel (+214% YTD)
Intel has been on a tear ever since President Trump announced last year that the US government would be taking a roughly 10% stake in the chipmaker. It overtook its dot-com-era peak even more recently than Cisco, in late April.
Since the US investment, through several earnings cycles, the company has proven itself as a serious player in semiconductors and data-center processors, even as Nvidia dominates the high-end market. It also helps, of course, that Intel is viewed by investors as the US government's horse in the chipmaking race.
Category 2: Dot-com relics that suddenly matter again
Dell (+97% YTD)
What millennial can forget the classic " dude, you're getting a Dell " motto that was burned into our brains in the early 2000s? The company was a veritable PC juggernaut. I personally had one, which I used to chat on AIM, download mp3s from Napster, and occasionally do schoolwork.
Companies building AI systems need loads of servers, storage systems, and data-center equipment — all areas where Dell is a major supplier.
Micron (+172% YTD)
Micron is getting a major boost from demand for high-bandwidth memory chips used in AI systems and data centers. There's been a shortage, which has driven prices — and Micron's stock price — ever higher. The company's products are viewed as essential to the AI buildout.
Qualcomm (+17% YTD)
Qualcomm's niche is making chips not for giant data centers, but instead for AI-enabled consumer electronic devices, like smartphones and PCs.
Long story short, the companies that built the internet are now helping build the AI economy — and their stocks are thriving because of it.
If you can't tell, I'm fully in the spirit. Now if you'll excuse me, I need to throw on some Jnco jeans and watch a YouTube clip of Korn's 1999 appearance on Total Request Live .
Read the original article on Business Insider
