While left in the shadow of its mainline rival, Advanced Micro Devices (NASDAQ:AMD) recently flexed its muscle, with AMD stock swinging sharply higher on Thursday. Driving sentiment was Piper Sandler’s reiterated bullish call on the tech enterprise, citing “bright prospects” for the business. The news comes as a welcome event, especially since it follows a possible cybersecurity breach.
According to a Seeking Alpha report, analysts led by Harsh Kumar reiterated their “overweight” rating on AMD stock. Further, the research arm made the semiconductor specialist its top pick among large-capitalization chipmakers going into the second half of the year. Specifically, Kumar pointed out that AMD’s Instinct MI300 Series processors have performed very well. It’s possible that demand could rise to more than $4 billion.
“Additionally, AMD has a slate of new chips coming out on top of MI300 later this year as well as 2025. To start, MI325 is expected to come out later this year and MI350 coming out in 2025. Finally, in 2026 we expect MI400 to come out,” Kumar mentioned in a research note.
Notably, the MI350 processor will feature advanced attributes that will compete with Blackwell under Nvidia (NASDAQ:NVDA), AMD’s chief rival.
Possible AI Arms Race Boosts AMD Stock Despite Cyberbreach Cloud
What’s particularly enticing for AMD stock is the prospect of an arms race in artificial intelligence (AI). So far, Nvidia has taken the market by storm thanks to its graphics processors powering AI’s rising needs. However, AMD might not be too far behind.
As Kumar pointed out, AMD already has over a hundred customers who are currently ramping up their processing portfolios with the MI300 chip. Some of the key customers include Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT), Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) and Oracle (NYSE:ORCL). The analyst has a $175 price target on AMD stock, which implies roughly 8% upside.
Fundamentally, the news couldn’t have come at a better time. Earlier this week, Reuters reported that AMD appears to have been a victim of a data breach. The semiconductor giant was “looking into claims that the company’s data was stolen in a hack by a cybercriminal organization.”
The chipmaker said in a statement: “We are working closely with law enforcement officials and a third-party hosting partner to investigate the claim and the significance of the data.”
So far, AMD stock is no worse for wear. While it gained about 5% in late afternoon trading, rival NVDA slipped about 3%.
On the date of publication, Josh Enomoto did not have (either directly or indirectly) any positions in the securities mentioned in this article. The opinions expressed in this article are those of the writer, subject to the InvestorPlace.com Publishing Guidelines.
