AMD shares drop as forecast comes up short of some expectations

Advanced Micro Devices reported fourth-quarter earnings that topped expectations, but the company’s first-quarter forecast fell short of what some analysts were expecting amid an AI spending boom.

The stock fell Tuesday as much as 8% in extended trading.

Here’s how the chipmaker did versus LSEG consensus estimates for the quarter ended in December:

• EPS: $1.53 vs. $1.32 expected
• Revenue: $10.27 billion vs. $9.67 billion expected

For the first quarter, AMD said it expects $9.8 billion in revenue, plus or minus $300 million, versus expectations of $9.38 billion. Some analysts, however, were expecting AMD to provide stronger guidance as customers continue to ramp up spending for the chips necessary to power AI models.

Net income climbed to $1.51 billion, or 92 cents per share, versus $482 million, or 29 cents per share, in the year-ago period. AMD’s overall revenue was up 34% on an annual basis.

AMD is one of two makers of big graphics processors for artificial intelligence, although it has only a small portion of the market, which is currently dominated by Nvidia. Shares have more than doubled over the past year.

The chipmaker has recently announced some big customers, including ChatGPT maker OpenAI and Oracle. AMD plans to ship a new integrated server-scale AI system called Helios later this year. AMD CEO Lisa Su said on an earnings call that the company was in “active discussions” for additional Helios or MI450 chip sales.

“The ramp is on schedule to start in the second half of the year, and MI450 is doing great,” Su said.

Those sales are reported in the company’s data center segment, which had $5.4 billion in sales in the quarter, up 39% on an annual basis. The company said growth was driven by both the company’s central processors and its AI GPUs.

Su said on the earnings call that the artificial intelligence boom is boosting sales of the company’s central processors, not just its GPUs.

“Server CPU demand remains very strong,” Su said. “Hyperscalers are expanding their infrastructure to meet growing demand for cloud services in AI, while enterprises are modernizing their data centers to ensure they have the right compute required to enable new AI workflows.”

AMD’s client and gaming segment rose 37% year over year to $3.9 billion. The company said it was driven by demand for its Ryzen processors for laptops and PCs, which have gained market share versus Intel.

The company’s embedded segment grew slower, rising 3% on a year over year basis to $950 million.

AMD has faced issues over whether it would be able to ship its AI chips to China because of U.S. export controls. The company on Tuesday said that it recorded $390 million in China sales of its Instinct MI308 chips during the fourth quarter and expects $100 million in China revenue in the current quarter.

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