New York, Feb 3, 2026, 10:45 (EST) — Regular session.
- AMD shares fell about 1.1% after opening higher, with results due after the bell
- A Reuters report on OpenAI’s search for alternatives to some Nvidia chips kept focus on AI “inference” demand
- Traders are braced for guidance on data-center growth and the AI accelerator roadmap
Advanced Micro Devices shares fell 1.1% to $243.50 in late morning trade, after opening at $251 and briefly touching $252.52. The stock was last down $2.77 from Monday’s close, and had traded as low as $241.94.
The move followed a Reuters report late Monday that OpenAI is unhappy with the inference performance of some of NVIDIA’s newest AI chips and has explored alternatives, including AMD. Inference is the stage where a trained AI model generates answers for users, a workload that can reward different chip designs than training giant models. (Reuters)
For AMD, the timing is awkward and useful. The company reports quarterly results after the close on Tuesday, and investors have leaned on any sign that big AI buyers are widening suppliers beyond Nvidia.
Analysts expect AMD to report adjusted earnings of about $1.32 per share on roughly $9.6 billion in revenue for the December quarter, according to Bloomberg consensus cited by Yahoo Finance. The same report flagged growing investor sensitivity to whether Big Tech’s AI spending is turning into near-term payoffs for chipmakers. (Yahoo Finance)
RBC Capital Markets analyst Srini Pajjuri kept a “Sector Perform” rating and a $230 target, but said he expects a “beat and raise” driven by server demand and market-share gains. The note also pointed to execution risks around rack-scale systems and supply, and warned that custom in-house chips — ASICs, or application-specific integrated circuits — could tighten the field as soon as 2026-27. (Investing)
Separately, HSBC analyst Frank Lee raised his price target to $335 from $300 and kept a Buy rating, Barron’s reported. He tied his view to “agentic AI” — software designed to plan and act with less human prompting — as a potential driver of server CPU demand. (Barron’s)
The OpenAI report hit the sector unevenly. Nvidia shares were down about 3.1% on Tuesday, while Intel was up about 2.3%.
Investors will listen for specifics on data-center revenue, AI accelerator supply and whether AMD can broaden demand beyond a handful of marquee customers. Any update on timing for newer accelerators and rack-scale offerings will likely land hard, after recent jitters in the AI hardware trade.
The backdrop is choppy even by earnings-week standards. Reuters reported that some U.S. labor data releases have been delayed by a partial government shutdown, adding another layer of uncertainty to rate and growth bets as companies report. (Reuters)
But the downside case is plain: expectations are high, and a cautious outlook can erase the OpenAI glow quickly. Traders also worry that even upbeat demand signals could run into supply limits, or that pricing pressure intensifies as customers push for cheaper inference compute.
AMD is set to post results after the market close and host a conference call at 5:00 p.m. EST. Investors will be parsing guidance for the March quarter and any update on the company’s AI roadmap; CTO Mark Papermaster is also scheduled to present at a Morgan Stanley technology conference on March 3. (Amd)
