AMD Tumbles After AI Chip Growth Fails to Inspire Investors

AMD Tumbles After AI Chip Growth Fails to Inspire Investors · Bloomberg

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(Bloomberg) -- Advanced Micro Devices Inc. slid in late trading after the chipmaker’s revenue forecast missed analysts’ estimates, a sign its artificial intelligence sales are growing more slowly than some had anticipated.

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Revenue will be roughly $7.5 billion in the fourth quarter, the company said Tuesday. Analysts estimated $7.55 billion on average.

Though the company now expects to get more than $5 billion in sales from so-called AI accelerators this year — up from a previous forecast of $4.5 billion — some analysts and investors had been looking for a bigger bump.

AMD is playing catch-up with Nvidia Corp. in the lucrative market for these chips, which help develop and run AI services. The company is now generating billions of dollars from that type of product — a rapid rise from a year ago — but the level remains well short of the tens of billions of dollars that its rival is raking in.

On a conference call following the results, Chief Executive Officer Lisa Su pushed back on concerns that AMD isn’t delivering enough growth. The company is ramping up production and earning the trust of the large data center companies that rely on AI accelerators, she said.

“What I will say is customers are very, very open to AMD,” Su said. “And we see that everywhere we go. Everyone is giving us a very fair shot at earning their business, and that’s what we intend to do.”

AMD shares fell more than 7% in late trading Tuesday. They were up 13% this year, closing at $166.25 in New York.

AMD’s third-quarter revenue rose 18% to $6.82 billion, beating an average estimate of $6.71 billion. Profit, minus certain items, increased to 92 cents a share, in line with projections.

AMD’s new MI300 accelerator products, which compete with Nvidia chips, have emerged as one of its biggest sales engines. But the growth has been hampered by the availability of supply. Like most companies in the industry, AMD no longer owns its own plants, opting instead to outsource production to Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co.

The company has made progress in getting more supply from its vendors, but still expects to have little latitude in terms of meeting demand if it’s above current projections, Su said on the call.

“I think we expect that the environment will continue to be tight, but we’ve also planned for significant growth going into 2025,” Su said. “We feel good about our overall supply-chain capability.”