AMD Beats Earnings Estimates, However Offers Lukewarm Forecast

(Bloomberg) — Superior Micro Units Inc., the second-largest maker of pc processors, topped third-quarter earnings estimates and signaled that inroads within the profitable server chip market will proceed to bolster its funds.

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Revenue was 67 cents a share within the third quarter, excluding some gadgets, the Santa Clara, California-based firm mentioned in a press release Tuesday. Analysts had estimated 65 cents. Income was roughly in step with projections.

Within the fourth quarter, gross sales shall be $5.5 billion, plus or minus $300 million. Although that missed the typical estimate of about $5.9 billion, it represents a rise at a time when a number of of AMD’s friends are struggling contractions.

Positive factors in servers and sturdy demand for customized chips will assist bolster AMD’s efficiency, the corporate mentioned. The shares gained as a lot as 3.3% in late buying and selling after the report was launched.

Chief Govt Officer Lisa Su mentioned she was assured that AMD’s product lineup, steadiness sheet and progress alternatives in markets akin to knowledge middle chips would place the corporate to “navigate the present market dynamics.”

Underlining how vital servers have gotten to AMD’s funds, the corporate’s data-center unit posted a income enhance of 45% from a yr earlier. That helped cushion the impression of a 40% drop in its personal-computer chip income. Sturdy demand for game-console elements — it provides Microsoft Corp. and Sony Group Corp. with customized chips — helped enhance gross sales for AMD’s gaming division by 14%.

AMD had warned in October that its third-quarter efficiency would fall in need of projections, and different chipmakers — together with Intel Corp. and Nvidia Corp. — have offered gloomy outlooks for the business. Going through a shaky economic system and hovering inflation, shoppers and companies have turned away from shopping for computer systems.

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Buyers have been looking for indicators of whether or not this steep decline will proceed — and take the market again to pre-Covid depths — or settle on the larger stage. A rebound to the heights of the early pandemic is now trying more and more unlikely.

Within the third quarter, PC shipments fell 15% to 74 million from the identical interval a yr earlier, based on IDC. The business had loved a resurgence throughout the pandemic, when the work-from-home development fueled demand for gear.

Underneath Su, AMD had confirmed much less inclined to market fluctuations as a result of it’s taken share from bigger rival Intel with new merchandise. However within the third quarter, Intel mentioned it took again share in PCs.

Su’s greatest coup, although, has been the breakthrough within the worthwhile marketplace for processors that run server machines. In that space, AMD has gone from a share of lower than 1% to a double-digit proportion. Su’s counterpart at Intel, Pat Gelsinger, mentioned final week he expects robust competitors in servers to proceed.

AMD shares closed at $59.66 in New York on Tuesday, leaving them down 59% this yr. With fears of a deepening slowdown weighing on the corporate, AMD has been one of many worst-performing semiconductor shares in 2022 following a four-year surge.

(Updates shares in fourth paragraph.)

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