AMD - Advanced Micro Devices, Inc.
| Previous Close | 30.72 |
| Open | 31.05 |
| Bid | 31.50 x 2200 |
| Ask | 31.51 x 2200 |
| Day's Range | 30.84 - 31.58 |
| 52 Week Range | 16.03 - 35.55 |
| Volume | 26,127,878 |
| Avg. Volume | 71,261,169 |
| Market Cap | 34.168B |
| Beta (3Y Monthly) | 3.18 |
| PE Ratio (TTM) | 173.90 |
| EPS (TTM) | 0.18 |
| Earnings Date | Oct 22, 2019 - Oct 28, 2019 |
| Forward Dividend & Yield | N/A (N/A) |
| Ex-Dividend Date | 1995-04-27 |
| 1y Target Est | 33.18 |
- Zacks
The Zacks Analyst Blog Highlights: NVIDIA, Microsoft, Adobe and Advanced Micro
The Zacks Analyst Blog Highlights: NVIDIA, Microsoft, Adobe and Advanced Micro
- Benzinga
Intel Takes Shot At AMD At Gaming Conference: 'Still The Fastest'
The statement was made at Gamescom 2019, the world's biggest gaming event, which is being held through Aug. 24 in Cologne, Germany. Is Intel Really Best? Despite Intel's dominance in the CPU market, it has been slowly and ceding share to AMD since the second quarter of 2017, the year the Ryzen line of microprocessors was launched. At the event, Severson compared Core i9 990K to AMD's Ryzen 9 3900X, stating that in real-world testing, Intel's technology was superior among similarly priced products.
- Market Realist
NVIDIA Is Looking to Boost Its Gaming Business
NVIDIA (NVDA) relies heavily on its gaming business for more than half of its revenue, but lately, its Gaming segment has been underperforming.
- InvestorPlace
You Should Buy Intel Stock Before It Mounts Its Comeback
The struggles continue for Intel (NASDAQ:INTC). Just as investors thought the company finally turned the corner, disappointing earnings reports have dashed both the hopes for and the price of Intel stock.Source: JHVEPhoto / Shutterstock.com Intel has seen its share of setbacks recently. AMD (NASDAQ:AMD), the company once regarded as "little brother" during the PC era, has taken a huge technological lead over Intel.The company also found itself unable to catch up with Qualcomm (NASDAQ:QCOM) in the 5G smartphone modem market. Intel stock attained a low valuation. However, the company has much to prove in its struggle to regain a leadership position in the chip market.InvestorPlace - Stock Market News, Stock Advice & Trading Tips Intel's Playing Catch-UpThe recovery that has blessed PC-era stocks such as Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) and Nvidia (NASDAQ:NVDA) has somehow left Intel behind. * 10 Undervalued Stocks With Breakout Potential As these companies found success in new niches, Intel continued to struggle with where to go next. Management missteps and scandals over the last few years only contributed to the lack of growth.The company had tried to compete with Qualcomm in the smartphone modem market. During the second quarter, they waved the white flag and sold that business to Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL).Also, Intel's management had hoped data center chips could become the company's next great revenue driver. Intel has not lost this battle yet, but it has faced a strong competitive challenge from AMD. Rumors abound that Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL, NASDAQ:GOOG) has begun to make Google-specific server boards with chips from AMD and not Intel.This represents a severe setback to Intel. This happened because AMD took a massive lead over Intel in this key area. AMD continues to increase CapEx on its 7nm chip at a time when Intel struggles to ramp up production on its 10nm chip. Intel Still Could RecoverIntel saw a massive decline following the first-quarter earnings report. A subsequent recovery fell back following the second-quarter release. Consequently, Intel only trades about 10% above its 52-week low.However, despite these setbacks, investors should not count Intel out . As our own James Brumley mentioned, AMD's 7nm Ryzen chips have not always reached the advertised operating speeds. Hence, AMD's lead in this area may turn out to be much less than advertised.Moreover, InvestorPlace contributor Chris Lau also points out that Intel has an enormous opportunity in 5G. Once users begin to adopt 5G, "network cloudification" could again bring servers powered by Intel chips to the forefront. The Bottom Line on Intel StockIntel appears well-positioned for buyers. Now, the INTC stock price currently stands at around $47 per share. This takes the forward price-to-earnings (PE) ratio to just 10.6.Admittedly, the fact that profits will shrink by an estimated 4.1% this year and only grow by 1.4% in 2020 does not inspire investors. And with INTC falling back after looking like it will sustain a recovery, investors may feel gun shy.However, the current valuation represents a low for INTC by historical standards. The PE ratio averaged 15.6 over the last five years. Also, INTC stock often saw a PE ratio well above 30 during the PC era.If the current performance of MSFT stock is an indication, a return to prominence could bring Intel the same level of multiple expansion. Furthermore, Intel stock has repeatedly bounced back whenever it fell below the $45 per share level. Hence, I see little downside at current prices.Also, indications point to a sustained recovery, eventually. Analysts forecast an average profit growth rate of 7.33% per year over the next five years.Also, the dividend of $1.26 per share yields almost 2.7%. It also has risen every year for the last four years and has never seen a cut. All of this leaves investors with little to lose by buying at these levels.Profiting from Intel stock may require some patience. However, it could again attain some level of market leadership once 5G becomes more widely adopted. If nothing else, investors can do worse than collecting a 2.7% dividend yield while they wait for this recovery.As of this writing, Will Healy did not hold a position in any of the aforementioned stocks. You can follow Will on Twitter at @HealyWriting. More From InvestorPlace * 2 Toxic Pot Stocks You Should Avoid * 10 Cheap Dividend Stocks to Load Up On * The 10 Biggest Losers from Q2 Earnings * 5 Dependable Dividend Stocks to Buy The post You Should Buy Intel Stock Before It Mounts Its Comeback appeared first on InvestorPlace.
- Market Realist
Why AMD Stock Is Up and What Could Bring It Down
Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) stock has surged this year, surpassing its major semiconductor peers. Here's what's driving the stock.
- Motley Fool
Here’s Why You Should Be Buying AMD Stock’s Latest Pullback
Temporary problems shouldn't distract AMD investors from the long-term opportunity.
- Market Realist
Gamescom 2019: NVIDIA Ray Tracing, Cloud Gaming Updates
Gamescom 2019 started today, and some of the most exciting announcements involved NVIDIA’s (NVDA) GeForce RTX gaming GPUs.
- Benzinga
Nomura On Semiconductors: Analyst Eyes Data Center, PC Trends
Earnings season for semiconductor companies is for the most part over. The reports showed that data center trends are "still soft," while the PC market is "looking good," according ...
- Zacks
NVIDIA and Microsoft Collaborate on Minecraft's Ray Tracing
NVIDIA's (NVDA) Ray tracing technology, RTX GPUs, will enhance the PC gaming experience on Microsoft's video game, Minecraft.
- Market Realist
Will AMD or Intel Gain Mobile and Server Market Share?
AMD stock is popular among investors, as is evident from its 180% increase since January 2018. Investors are betting on its market share gain from Intel.
- Market Realist
AMD Stock Proportional to CPU Market Share Gain
CPU market share figures show a positive trend for AMD and a negative trend for Intel. AMD is up 80% for the second straight year and is still growing.
- Market Realist
NVIDIA: Why Institutional Investors Are Adding Stakes
Investors are going gaga over NVIDIA (NVDA) stock. A series of positive events have lifted the company's stock price lately.
- Zacks
Can Huawei's Harmony Match Up to Android?
With the ban on Huawei's trade still in force, the company develops Harmony OS as a counter measure. Will this hurt Google's Android demand?
- GuruFocus.com
Advanced Micro Devices Inc (AMD) Chief Technology Officer & EVP Mark D Papermaster Sold ...
Chief Technology Officer & EVP of Advanced Micro Devices Inc (30-Year Financial, Insider Trades) Mark D Papermaster (insider trades) sold 30,000 shares of AMD on 08/15/2019 at an average price of $30.63 a share. Continue reading...
- Investor's Business Daily
ON Semiconductor, NXP Semiconductors Bright Spots Amid Chip Downturn
After downgrading the chip sector almost a year ago, brokerage firm Raymond James now is seeing some attractive semiconductor stocks. They include ON Semiconductor and NXP Semiconductors.
- Benzinga
Piper Jaffray: AMD 'More Or Less Fully Valued'
Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. (NASDAQ: AMD ) has an “exciting” product portfolio, but the recent rise in the semiconductor company’s share price is keeping Piper Jaffray on the sidelines. The Analyst Harsh ...
- TipRanks
David Shaw Makes Waves in the Semiconductor World
David Shaw got his start in 1988, when he convinced the Wall Street investment firm Paloma Partners to back him in the new field of quantitative trading. Shaw, a brainy buy with a PhD in computer science and a complete neophyte in financial world, told his backers, “I think I can use technology to trade securities.”He was right. His firm, now the D.E. Shaw Group, has taken it’s initial $28 million in capital and grown it into a $47 billion hedge fund, earning more than $25 billion for its investors. Shaw himself retired from active leadership of the firm in 2001, although he remains connected to the trading operations.In its most recent 13F filing, the D. E. Shaw Group revealed that it has upped its holding in Micron Technologies (MU), while cutting back drastically on American Micro Devices (AMD). A brief look at the numbers tells the story.Shaw Group bought 1,386,790 MU shares, boosting the fund’s holding by 53%. At the same time, the filings show that the fund reduced its holdings of AMD by 2,996,831 shares, or 65%. Prior to the transactions, Shaw Group’s holding in AMD was almost double that in MU; the fund has now reversed that position and holds more than twice as many Micron shares as AMD. It’s a drastic change and deserves some closer examination. The Selling Case for AMDAt first glance, AMD doesn’t look like a stock to sell. It’s up almost 73% year-to-date, and is one of 2019’s successful turnaround stories. AMD chips have quickly developed a reputation for high performance and quality, and that in turn has given them the leverage needed to draw market share away from rival chip-maker Intel (INTC). AMD have been on a tear. So why the sudden change in outlook by one of the world’s smartest quant trading hedge funds?The answer may lie in that year-to-date gain. AMD opened at $18.01 on January 2; it closed at $31.18 on August 16. That gain has investors worried that, for now at least, AMD is played out, without significant room for near-term growth. Recent reviews from top Wall Street analysts support this contention.5-star analyst Cody Acree, of Loop Capital, initiated his coverage of AMD with a Hold rating, saying, “We like the solid share gains but see the valuation as fair.” His price target, $32, is in line with that, suggesting just a 2% upside to the stock. Acree is joined by Mizuho’s Vijay Rakesh and Susquehanna’s Christopher Rolland. Both 5-star analysts reiterate Hold ratings on AMD, and maintain their price targets of $36 and $34 respectively. Overall, AMD’s analyst consensus rating remains a Moderate Buy, but that appears to be shifting. Of the 10 buys, 11 holds, and 1 sell assigned in the past three months, 3 holds were given just last week. The stock sells for $31.18, with an average price target of $34.10. This suggests an upside potential of 9%. The Buying Case for MicronBetween June 2018 and June 2019, Micron didn’t look like a stock to buy. The combination of increasing supply and slower demand in the memory chip market put the obvious price pressure on the company, and MU shares were squeezed, losing half their value. MU seems to be coming out of the woods, however, as improved business confidence has led to increased demand which has in turn started working down the memory chip segment’s oversupply problem. In a conference call, Micron management said, “Demand is starting to return in a meaningful way, driven by renewed demand in the cloud and graphics segments.”Micron’s year-to-date gain of 37% has outperformed the markets, but has not sparked worries that it’s maxed out. Investors look at MU and see a stock that’s improving, with room for more growth.5-star Needham analyst Rajvindra Gill lays out the bulls’ case for MU. He says, “We view supply cuts as positive developments for Micron and the rest of the memory industry. We continue to be bullish on a stabilization in the supply-demand dynamic for NAND and DRAM in 2H19.” Gill’s $50 price target implies and upside of 14% for MU shares.Sidney Ho of Deutsche Bank, concurs in the bullish assessment, writing, “We have confidence that the company's August quarter will be the trough this cycle.” Ho raised his price target by 22%, to $55, indicating a potential 26% upside.The rest of Wall Street largely buys into what the chip giant has to offer, as TipRanks analytics reveal MU as a Buy. Out of 22 analysts polled in the last 3 months, 13 are bullish on Micron stock while 6 remain neutral, and 3 are bearish. (See MU'S price targets and analyst ratings on TipRanks)
- Market Realist
NVIDIA Stock Is on a Growth Trajectory: Here’s Why
NVIDIA stock’s downtrend seems to be ending. NVIDIA’s revenue is growing sequentially, driven by strong demand for laptop GPUs and game console processors.
- InvestorPlace
AMD Stock’s Post-Earnings Recovering Shows Investor Optimism
Despite an initially negative response after earnings, investors holding Advanced Micro Devices (NASDAQ:AMD) are growing confident in its prospects. For the rest of 2019, AMD expects growth accelerating in the desktop, notebook, server, and semi-custom space.Source: Shutterstock For the second quarter, AMD reported EPS of $0.08, despite revenue falling 12.81% year-over-year to $1.53 billion. Strong CPU revenue was offset by a drop in semi-custom and GPU sales. Weaker chip sales for consoles made by Sony (NYSE:SNE) and Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) weighed on overall results. Looking ahead in this space, both Sony and Microsoft will source SoCs from AMD for their next-generation consoles. And even though revenue will probably remain weak from semi-custom, AMD's profit margins will remain at healthy levels.AMD's next-generation Rome server is on time and is exceeding expectations. The chip is delivering on industry-leading performance and TCO (total cost of ownership) for an expanded number of cloud and enterprise workloads. Rome has more traction than the first-generation EPYC processors. Twice the number of platforms are developing for this architecture. And AMD has a larger set of partners this time around. Add four times more enterprise and cloud customers involved before its launch and it is clear that sales will grow at a better pace. This will give profit margins a healthy lift.InvestorPlace - Stock Market News, Stock Advice & Trading Tips Rebound from Weak GPU SalesDuring the quarter, AMD ramped up production of Radeon 5700 GPUs. The release introduces the new RDNA architecture that delivers up to 1.5 times more performance per watt compared to previous generations. AMD noted strong initial demand, with third-party reviewers complimenting the GPU's favorable game performance relative to its pricing.Although revenue declined in the Graphics segment due largely to lower channel sales, data center GPU sales rose significantly. Blockchain-related revenue was negligible in the quarter, as expected. But with bitcoin prices rebounded since May, investors might expect sales from the cryptocurrency resurgence potentially recovering. Growth OpportunityAMD's 7-nanometer product line will eventually offer margins greater than 50%. For the third quarter though, the company guided gross margin of 43%. But by Q4, this should increase. TSMC (NYSE:TSM) is more than supportive operationally in meeting the ramp-up of these chips. Barely a month on the market, Ryzen's third-generation CPU promises to add to AMD's revenue. Launched globally, the Ryzen refresh will accelerate AMD's market share gains in the PC market. Additional product releases that add to a better product mix suggests profits will grow at improving rates. * 7 Great Small-Cap Stocks to Buy Sales of the fifth-generation chip production for Microsoft and Sony consoles will start adding to AMD's revenue in the second half of the year. Ahead of the holiday season of 2020, investors should expect the company to book significant revenue growth in the semi-custom space.AMD's multi-year deal to supply GPU licenses for Samsung ushers in a new era for GPUs in the smartphone space. AMD will earn $100 million from the deal, offset by some specific development costs and COGS (cost of goods sold). But most importantly, it broadens the chip maker's revenue line in the Asian-Pacific region. So even though weak performance in China had a minimal impact on its revenue, AMD may now develop a market in the smartphone space. Valuation and Your Takeaway on AMDBased on 22 analysts offering a one-year price target on AMD, the average target is $34.10, not far from the $31.18 recent closing price. Similarly, investors forecasting revenue growth of at least 15% in a 5-year DCF Revenue Exit model will arrive at a similar price target. With AMD's rich product launch schedule ahead and its 7-nanometer road map, AMD stock will continue rewarding investors over the next few years.Disclosure: As of this writing, the author did not hold a position in any of the aforementioned securities. More From InvestorPlace * 2 Toxic Pot Stocks You Should Avoid * 10 Cheap Dividend Stocks to Load Up On * The 10 Biggest Losers from Q2 Earnings * 5 Dependable Dividend Stocks to Buy The post AMD Stock's Post-Earnings Recovering Shows Investor Optimism appeared first on InvestorPlace.
- InvestorPlace
Wait Until After the Looming Correction to Buy AMD Stock
AMD (NASDAQ:AMD) has surged higher by more than 60% year-to-date. The sharp rally in AMD stock has been triggered by new product launches and a healthy pipeline of exciting products. In addition, sustained improvement in gross margin has contributed to the upside.I remain bullish on AMD for the long-term with the company making inroads in the cloud segment, artificial intelligence and augmented reality. However, I believe that the stock is likely to trend lower in the near to medium-term.InvestorPlace - Stock Market News, Stock Advice & Trading TipsThis article will discuss the key concerns that make me relatively bearish on Advanced Micro Devices stock. Global Slowdown and Possible RecessionThere are stocks that are relatively immune to a slowdown or recession. Typically, these stocks are in industries like healthcare, pharmaceuticals or other necessities. * 10 Cheap Dividend Stocks to Load Up On However, Advanced Micro Devices is sensitive to an economic downturn. As the yield curve inverts in the United States and the United Kingdom, slowdown or recession is the first major concern for AMD stock.To add to the global economic woes, Europe reported PMI that indicates a manufacturing sector recession. In addition, China reported its lowest industrial production growth in 17 years.Clearly, the global economy is slowing down sharply and this will impact the results for AMD in the coming quarters.Any potential analyst downgrade in terms of revenue or EPS will result in the stock trending lower and I expect that to happen. Trade War with ChinaThe ongoing trade war between the United States and China is showing no signs of de-escalation.I believe that trade war will continue to impact AMD stock with the company having approximately 30% business from China.As an example, Advanced Micro Devices sales were impacted because it could not sell chips to Huawei in the previous quarter. While Donald Trump has announced that Huawei can buy from U.S. suppliers again, the uncertainty amidst trade war sustains.Another negative implication is that AMD might need to increase prices or take a hit on margins if chips produced in China are imported to the United States for sale. Analysts are already worried about the tariffs and the coming quarters will provide clarity on the impact.It is estimated that by 2023, there will be 354 million PC gamers in China. This is more than the population of the United States. This presents a big growth opportunity for companies like AMD and Nvidia (NASDAQ:NVDA).However, it remains to be seen if these companies can withstand the impact of the trade war and grow amidst uncertainties. Nvidia has an Edge over AMDIf I had to choose between Advanced Micro Devices stock and Nvidia, I would prefer to invest in the latter.Nvidia reported strong second-quarter results and the stock is already higher by 7% as I write. In particular, the company's gaming segment strength is noticeable.If we also look at the video card market share, Nvidia is a clear leader with a 60.23% market share. AMD is a distant second with a market share of 23.03%.With Nvidia having a relatively expensive product offering, the market share trend is an indication of the fact that consumers prefer high performance over price.It is true that AMD is looking at introducing some high-end models in the coming years. This is likely to heat-up the pricing war between the rivals. However, Nvidia has a clear edge now and the stock is likely to sustain the upside after second-quarter results. Final Words on AMD StockThere is no doubt that AMD has exciting prospects in the coming years. The company has also reduced its balance sheet stress with leverage declining from 4.6 in 4Q17 to 1.9 in 2Q19. However, economic headwinds, trade war and competition with Nvidia in the gaming segment are likely to hurt AMD stock in the near-term.In the medium to long-term, the company has the advantage of out-performance in the CPU and server market. Additionally, the company's high-end GPU launch can be a potential game-changer in terms of market share.Considering the fact that AMD stock price has surged by more than 60% YTD, I would advise investors to wait for some correction. A decline of 15% to 20% from current levels is likely considering economic and trade war headwinds.As of this writing, the author did not hold a position in any of the aforementioned securities. More From InvestorPlace * 2 Toxic Pot Stocks You Should Avoid * 10 Cheap Dividend Stocks to Load Up On * The 10 Biggest Losers from Q2 Earnings * 5 Dependable Dividend Stocks to Buy The post Wait Until After the Looming Correction to Buy AMD Stock appeared first on InvestorPlace.
- InvestorPlace
3 Big Stock Charts for Monday: Amazon, Activision Blizzard and Jack Henry & Associates
Investors weren't so sure they could trust the market on Thursday, following Wednesday's breakdown in response to recession worries. They forgot about those doubts by Friday though, with the S&P 500 rallying 1.44% to finish the week on a high note.Source: Shutterstock General Electric (NYSE:GE) led the charge, rallying nearly 10% after plunging on Thursday in response to accusations that its books understated the full extent of its insurance liabilities. Advanced Micro Devices (NASDAQ:AMD) had a big day as well though, gaining 5% buoyed by rebounding rival Nvidia (NASDAQ:NVDA).Not every name was a winner on Friday though. Palo Alto Networks (NYSE:PANW), for instance, fell more than 7% on more management changes that may or may not help, but will certainly prove disruptive.InvestorPlace - Stock Market News, Stock Advice & Trading Tips * 7 Great Small-Cap Stocks to Buy As the new trading week gets going though, it's the stock charts of Activision Blizzard (NASDAQ:ATVI), Jack Henry & Associates (NASDAQ:JKHY) and Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN) that merit a closer look. Here's why. Amazon (AMZN)In early July, Amazon looked unstoppable. It had just rekindled a recovery effort that began in January, pushing up and off a support liner that started to take shape in February. That move jolted AMZN back above a key moving average line as well.As was the case in May, the advance fell apart once it got overextended, falling back just as much. This time, however, the selloff stopped exactly where it needed to. Better still, where the selling stopped is precisely where a renewed rally effort would materialize. * Click to EnlargeTwo floors have converged, and AMZN is finding support at both of them. One is the straight-line support plotted in yellow on both stock charts. The other is the 200-day moving average line, in white. * If the prospective bounce takes hold, it will still have to contend with proven technical resistance around $2,035, marked with a light blue line on the weekly chart. * While primed for a turnaround, the bullish days that have kept Amazon shares above the 200-day moving average line have been on thin volume. There's not a lot of evidence of strong bullish sentiment here. Jack Henry & Associates (JKHY)Jack Henry & Associates was one of the few names that was unable to make forward progress on Friday, pulling back just a bit after soaring earlier in the week.Still, there's much to like about the circumstances JKHY stock has made for itself over the course of the past several weeks. And, just within the past few days the scales have started to lean in a bullish direction again. The trick will be clearing one more hurdle that was verified with Friday's high. * 15 Growth Stocks to Buy for the Long Haul * Click to EnlargeThat last hurdle is the upper boundary of a converging wedge pattern that has been forming since September of last year, plotted in yellow on both stock charts. * Although tests of the wedge's upper boundary have failed before, this one's starting out with an advantage. This time, the test is coming after the purple 50-day moving average line has moved above the white 200-day line. * It's confirmed by the Chaikin line's move above the zero level on the weekly chart, though even just a visual inspection of the same chart shows bullish volume has grown in just the past couple of weeks. Activision Blizzard (ATVI)Finally, the last time we took a look at Activision Blizzard back on July 29, it was working on breaking above its 200-day moving average line. It was a good effort too. A long streak of higher lows and a narrow trading range were coiling the spring tight, setting up a prolonged move.That's what ended up happening later in the month. But, it didn't last. The effort was up-ended a couple of days later. Nevertheless, the bulls are taking another shot, and this one looks even better positioned than the last. * Click to EnlargeWhat we're seeing now and we didn't see before is a better-defined streak of higher highs and higher lows, framed with yellow and light-blue lines -- respectively -- on both stock charts. * Simultaneously, we're on the verge of seeing a so-called golden cross, where the purple 50-day moving average line crosses above the white 200-day moving average. It's often a signal of more bullishness ahead. * Beyond that, a ceiling at $51.44 was confirmed that's to the late-July peak. That's also where shares topped in January. That level is plotted as a darker blue line on both stock charts.As of this writing, James Brumley did not hold a position in any of the aforementioned securities. You can learn more about James at his site, jamesbrumley.com, or follow him on Twitter, at @jbrumley. More From InvestorPlace * 2 Toxic Pot Stocks You Should Avoid * 10 Cheap Dividend Stocks to Load Up On * The 10 Biggest Losers from Q2 Earnings * 5 Dependable Dividend Stocks to Buy The post 3 Big Stock Charts for Monday: Amazon, Activision Blizzard and Jack Henry & Associates appeared first on InvestorPlace.
- Bloomberg
Semiconductor Startup Shows Off the World’s Biggest Processor
(Bloomberg) -- In the semiconductor industry, bigger is not usually better. For 60 years, chip companies have strived to make the brains of computers as tiny as possible.Startup Cerebras Systems will turn this maxim on its head on Monday when it unveils a processor measuring roughly 8 inches by 8 inches. That’s at least 50 times larger than similar chips available today.The logic behind going big is simple, according to founder Andrew Feldman. Artificial intelligence software requires huge amounts of information to improve, so processors need to be as fast as possible to crunch all this data -- even if that means the components get really chunky.The company’s Wafer Scale Engine chip is large because it has 1.2 trillion transistors, 400,000 computing cores and 18 gigabytes of memory. (A typical PC processor will have about 2 billion transistors, four to six cores and a fraction of the memory).“Every square millimeter is optimized for this work,” Feldman said. “AI work is growing like crazy. Our customers are in pain.” The biggest limitation of current AI systems is that it takes too long to train software, he added.Feldman has experience and industry backing that’s essential to tackling an engineering problem of this magnitude, he said. He co-founded server maker SeaMicro Inc. and sold it to chipmaker Advanced Micro Devices Inc. for more than $300 million in 2012. Cerebras has raised over $100 million from Silicon Valley investors including Benchmark, Andy Bechtolsheim and Sam Altman. Feldman has a team of 174 engineers and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. -- Apple Inc.’s chipmaker of choice -- is manufacturing the massive Cerebras processor.Cerebras won’t sell the chips because it’s so difficult to connect and cool such a huge piece of silicon. Instead, the product will offered as part of a new server that will be installed in data centers. The company said it has test systems working at several large potential customers and will start shipping the machines commercially in October.The AI chip market includes Nvidia Corp., Intel Corp. and U.K. startup Graphcore Ltd. Google has been so keen to speed up AI progress that the internet giant developed its own special chips called Tensor Processing Units.Nvidia was the last company to successfully bring new semiconductor technology into servers, the machines that run data centers that Google, Facebook Inc. and others use to run internet services. Nvidia now gets almost $3 billion a year in revenue from the business, which took years and thousands of engineers to build, according to Chief Executive Officer Jensen Huang.“It takes a long time to be successful in data center,” he said in an interview last week.To contact the reporter on this story: Ian King in San Francisco at ianking@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Jillian Ward at jward56@bloomberg.net, Alistair Barr, Mark MilianFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
- TheStreet.com
[video]AMD Breakout: Key Level to Watch
The companies on the front lines of the trade war are getting a bit of a reprieve to start the week, following the announcement from Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross that Chinese device maker Huawei will get another 90 days to buy from American suppliers. One big U.S. tech name that counts Huawei as a customer is Advanced Micro Devices - shares are getting a boost from the news cycle Monday, up 2.6% just before noon. While shares spent most of 2019 in a well-defined uptrend - one that sent a clear-cut buy signal in mid-June that was followed almost immediately by a push to new highs - things have changed as trade war developments and recession fears entered the market.
- Market Realist
AMD Fixing Its Data Center Processor Business Strategy
Delayed product rollouts caused AMD to lose market share to Intel. Led by CEO Lisa Su, AMD is trying to break with the past.
- MarketWatch
Nvidia heads back toward $100 billion, brings AMD along for the ride as gaming chips bounce back
Nvidia Corp. headed back toward a $100 billion market cap Friday morning, after detailing earnings that showed its core business is back on track after a crypto-mining-influenced crash over the past year.
![[video]AMD Breakout: Key Level to Watch](https://s.yimg.com/uu/api/res/1.2/z6GzbDKYnjwCIH2IHauW5g--~B/Zmk9c3RyaW07aD0xMjM7cHlvZmY9MDtxPTgwO3c9MjIwO3NtPTE7YXBwaWQ9eXRhY2h5b24-/https://media.zenfs.com/en/thestreet.com/365763879ba9659d35b2ec27c282a0d3)
