AMD sharply boosts revenue amid record demand for AI chips. AMD reported a 38% revenue increase, surpassing analysts’ expectations. The company forecasts further revenue growth thanks to strong demand for artificial intelligence chips. AMD shares rose by 16%.
Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) has published its quarterly report, surpassing market expectations and triggering a sharp rise in its stock price. The company reported revenue for the first quarter of 2026 at $10.25 billion, up 38% compared to the same period last year. Net profit reached $1.38 billion versus $709 million a year earlier. According to LSEG, adjusted earnings per share came in at $1.37, also above analysts' forecasts.
The main driver of growth was sales in the data center segment: this figure increased by 57% and reached $5.8 billion. AMD's management notes that this direction now determines the overall dynamics of the company. In a statement, CEO Lisa Su emphasized that demand for server solutions continues to grow, and the company is ramping up deliveries to meet the needs of major clients.
Forecast and new contracts
For the second quarter, AMD expects revenue of about $11.2 billion—above market expectations of $10.52 billion. The company states it is "confident" in achieving tens of billions of dollars in revenue from AI solutions for data centers as early as next year. In prepared remarks, Lisa Su separately noted that AMD expects to exceed its long-term growth goal by more than 80% in the coming years.
A key event for the market was the announcement of a partnership between AMD and Intel to implement a new instruction set for x86 processors — AI Compute Extensions. This technology is expected to boost the performance and energy efficiency of server CPUs, increasing computational density by 16 times. On the heels of this news, AMD shares rose 16% in a single day and are up 66% since the start of the year. Over the past year, the company's market capitalization has tripled.
Competition and new products
Although AMD lags behind Nvidia in the GPU segment for AI data centers, investors are actively buying the company's shares, expecting that the market is large enough for several major players. Unlike Nvidia, AMD has traditionally excelled in producing CPUs, which are once again in demand with the rise of agent-based AI systems.
In 2026, AMD plans to begin deliveries of its first full-size rack-scale system for AI data centers — Helios. This product is positioned as an alternative to Nvidia's Grace Blackwell and Vera Rubin systems, which cost over $3 million. Major clients, including OpenAI and Meta, have already placed orders for Helios. In February, Meta signed a multi-year contract for the supply of up to 6 gigawatts of AMD GPUs and the use of AI-optimized CPUs. Deliveries will start in the second half of the year.
Market and industry context
The semiconductor sector is facing a global memory shortage and production capacity constraints due to high demand for AI solutions and supply chain disruptions linked to the conflict in Iran. This has led to a surge not only in AMD's shares but also those of other players: Intel ended April with a record doubling of its share price, while Micron's market capitalization exceeded $700 billion after its stock soared 700% over the year.
According to Lisa Su, partnerships with OpenAI and Meta provide AMD with long-term visibility for major deliveries and strengthen the company's position among key infrastructure suppliers for artificial intelligence. The company expects further acceleration in the server segment as production scales and the client base expands.
