Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) stock boomed over 14% on Friday, hitting a new record in share price during premarket trading. The chipmaker received a forecast revision by D.A. Davidson, who upgraded shares of the chipmaker to a Buy rating from Neutral. Additionally, rival chipmaker Intel posted strong earnings, which sparked a rally for the semiconductor industry.
Intel’s results highlight the pivotal role central processing units (CPUs) play amid growing demand for AI agents, or bots that act on users’ behalf. As a premier CPU developer and chipmaker, AMD is also a beneficiary, despite Intel being a competitor. As well as these earnings, DA Davidson has upgraded AMD to Buy with a $375 target from $220, citing opportunities in the data center market following Intel’s performance. At press time, AMD trades at $347 a share.
“CPU is reinserting itself as an indispensable foundation of the AI era, and the once sleepy CPU market has taken off as agentic workloads shift compute needs beyond GPUs,” Davidson analyst Gil Luria wrote in a note on Friday. “We view Intel’s results as a precursor for a huge step-up for AMD’s CPU franchise,” he added.
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In the past month, AMD stock has rocketed 69%, with the US tech stock market rallying due to strong demand for AI-related products and a favorable market environment. Furthermore, AMD’s stock has seen a 195% increase over the past year, with several key developments and partnerships driving growth. Most recently, AMD has entered a multi-year collaboration with the French government to bolster its national AI strategy, aiming to embed its processors and accelerators in AI applications.
In the latter half of 2026, the company’s Helios artificial intelligence (AI) rack is also expected to launch. The rack includes AMD’s latest chips and is designed for AI workloads. CEO Lisa Su also expects the company to generate revenue from its new MI450 as early as the third quarter, and for it to ramp up afterwards. This could provide a solid revenue stream to go with AMD’s already solid earnings of late, leading the stock to a solid rebound to match 2025.