AMD Nears $900 Billion Market Cap on AI Demand

AMD shares rose 4.02% to $542.52 on Wednesday, trading as high as $546.44 and moving the stock toward a record closing high. At $551.94 per share AMD would reach a $900 billion market capitalization; the company’s market value was about $850 billion at Tuesday’s close.

The rise came as investors returned to semiconductor stocks amid demand for chips used in data centers and cloud services for artificial intelligence workloads. Intel shares gained 4.43% and appeared set to end a recent five-session slide.

Earlier in the week Nvidia introduced a new AI chip for personal computers, which initially pressured traditional CPU makers. Sentiment improved midweek as investors refocused on AI-related spending for data-center upgrades and cloud infrastructure.

At the Computex conference in Taiwan, Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan noted that processor demand remains strong and that several chief executives had contacted him seeking more supply.

Morgan Stanley analysts led by Shawn Kim wrote that AI-driven demand is affecting hardware margins, device affordability, cloud costs, inflation and policy, and that new AI workloads could raise CPU demand in cloud data centers, potentially favoring AMD’s cloud market share. The firm also recommended maintaining exposure to Nvidia and memory suppliers where AI-related capital spending may translate into earnings.

An analyst at Seeking Alpha upgraded AMD to Strong Buy, citing rising demand for AI inference workloads and advantages in memory capacity, power efficiency and cost structure. Data from FactSet show 58 analysts covering AMD with a consensus Overweight rating and an average price target near $491.32.

AMD shares have risen about 151% year to date and roughly 354% over the past 12 months. Investors continue to weigh competition in AI chips against demand from cloud computing, AI inference and increasing data-center investment.