NEW YORK, March 13, 2026, 4:59 PM EDT
Shares of Advanced Micro Devices slipped roughly 2.2% to $193.39 in late U.S. trading Friday, with investors backing away from semiconductor stocks. Nvidia dropped 1.6% on the session, while Intel gained 1.2%.
Why does it matter? AMD stands out as a core AI chip play, yet lately, appetite for growth has faded as oil prices and rate jitters flare up. The Nasdaq slid 0.9% Friday, Reuters said, with Brent crossing the $100-a-barrel mark for the first time since August 2022. Traders now see roughly a fifth of a point in Fed cuts this year—down from half a point just a month earlier. Reuters
Company-level developments are back in focus. This week, Reuters said CEO Lisa Su will travel to South Korea to meet Samsung Chairman Jay Y. Lee, with talks expected to center on high-bandwidth memory—HBM, the speedy stacked memory critical for AI chips. Samsung, for its part, had cautioned in January that the industry’s memory shortage could persist, with supply growth unlikely before 2026 or 2027. Reuters
Meta is ramping up its in-house chip efforts, revealing four proprietary AI chips this week. Still, the company isn’t dropping AMD or Nvidia — it’s sticking with both for processor purchases. Demand for inference, or the response phase when an AI fields a prompt, is “exploding,” according to Meta engineering chief Yee Jiun Song. Reuters
The demand picture is still massive. According to Reuters’ math, Alphabet, Microsoft, Amazon, and Meta together are on track to pour at least $630 billion into data centers and AI chips this year. Back in February, AMD revealed Meta had struck a deal to buy up to $60 billion worth of its AI chips over five years. Matt Britzman, senior equity analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown, pointed out Meta’s move to secure supply and avoid being tied to just one vendor. Reuters
Yet February’s red flags remain on investors’ minds. AMD is guiding for first-quarter revenue of roughly $9.8 billion—trailing the $10.27 billion seen in the fourth quarter—which has fueled skepticism about its ability to ramp up AI sales and meet lofty projections. Reuters
AMD didn’t shift its messaging. In the Feb. 3 earnings statement, CEO Lisa Su pointed to “strong momentum” heading into 2026, crediting EPYC server chips, Ryzen processors, and fast ramp-up in the data-center AI segment. Advanced Micro Devices, Inc.
Competition isn’t fading from Nvidia’s radar as the GTC developer conference kicks off next week. Analysts speaking with Reuters pointed to upcoming launches and fresh alliances designed to help Nvidia protect its dominant position. KinNgai Chan at Summit Insights flagged that Nvidia has to contend with “more competition” now than it did a year earlier, despite still holding over 90% of the AI training and inference market. Reuters
The risks are hard to miss. Rising energy prices push up costs for businesses, hit consumer wallets, and could force rates high enough to weigh on pricey chip names. “Out of left field,” Glenmede’s Michael Reynolds said of the oil shock. Should crude hold these levels, AMD might just track the market’s ups and downs for a while, until investors look again at how well it’s converting AI demand to actual sales. Reuters
