(Bloomberg) — Advanced Micro Devices Inc., the second-largest maker of AI accelerator chips, gave a strong forecast for the current period, signaling that it’s making inroads in an industry dominated by Nvidia Corp.
Third-quarter sales will be about $8.7 billion, the company said in a statement Tuesday. That compares with an average analyst estimate of $8.37 billion. The forecast doesn’t include sales of AI chips to China, where US export controls were recently eased.
The outlook pleased investors, who have been looking for more growth from AI accelerators, the highly prized chips that help develop and run artificial intelligence models. The market has become the hottest part of AMD’s business, even though the company remains far behind Nvidia.
But the China market remains a question mark: Though AMD is expected to begin resuming sales of AI chips there — after the easing of restrictions by the Trump administration — it’s unclear how soon that will happen.
Investors have poured money into AMD’s shares this year, making it the best-performing semiconductor stock in 2025. The run-up has put pressure on its management to match lofty expectations for growth.
Three months ago, AMD said it was taking $800 million in charges for inventory and reserves due to export controls in the second quarter and that those restrictions would cost it $1.5 billion in revenue this year. The US move to ease those restrictions on China are expected to eventually change its outlook.
AMD’s stock, the top stock in the Philadelphia Stock Exchange Semiconductor Index this year, rose about 1% in extended trading following the announcement. It had gained 44% in 2025.
AMD’s second-quarter sales rose 32% to $7.7 billion, compared with a $7.43 billion average estimate. Profit was 48 cents a share, minus certain items. Analysts projected 49 cents.
Data center sales gained 14% to $3.2 billion in the period. On average, analysts had predicted $3.25 billion. Personal computer-related sales climbed 67% to $2.5 billion. The average prediction was $2.56 billion
In the decade since Chief Executive Officer Lisa Su took the top job at AMD, the company has become a key provider of technology across the computing industry. The ability to deliver competitive products — at a time when longtime nemesis Intel Corp. has stumbled — has brought a reversal of fortunes.
AMD’s market capitalization is now roughly $200 billion higher than Intel’s. Still, neither company has matched the runaway success of Nvidia, whose dominance of AI accelerators has made it the world’s most valuable business.
AMD is the second-biggest provider of graphics chips, which form the basis for the AI accelerators that run in data centers. Its microprocessors, meanwhile, go head to head with Intel products in the markets for PCs and servers.
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