advanced micro device CEO Lisa Su defended the company’s lackluster outlook on Wednesday, telling CNBC that demand for the company has grown even stronger in recent months, even as the stock plunged 17% in its worst session since May 2017.
“I can tell you from an insider that AI is accelerating at a pace I never imagined,” he told CNBC’s “Squawk on the Street,” adding that demand continues to outstrip computing needs.
Su said AMD’s data center business accelerated from the fourth quarter to the first quarter, and demand for the company’s central processing units is “soaring” as companies rapidly ramp up computing for AI enterprise operations.
The company’s fourth-quarter results on Tuesday beat Wall Street expectations, but were overshadowed by what some analysts saw as a weaker outlook.
AMD said it expects first-quarter revenue to be $9.8 billion, plus or minus $300 million. The forecast was $9.38 billion.
Some analysts had expected the company’s outlook to be much stronger on the back of increased AI spending and a massive data center buildout.
AMD also announced that it will launch OpenAI and oracle In the fourth quarter. As the need for data centers to power AI tools continues to soar, companies are also ramping up investment.
Su told CNBC that there will be an “inflection point” in the second half of the year when AMD begins shipping a new unified server-scale AI system known as Helios, and the company is on track for its launch.
