New York, Feb 3, 2026, 10:45 (EST) — Regular session underway.
- AMD shares slipped roughly 1.1% following an early rally, ahead of earnings due after the close
- A Reuters report on OpenAI’s hunt for alternatives to certain Nvidia chips centered on AI “inference” demand
- Traders await updates on data-center expansion and the AI accelerator plans
Advanced Micro Devices shares slipped 1.1% to $243.50 late this morning, after starting the day at $251 and hitting an intraday high of $252.52. The stock was down $2.77 from Monday’s close, with a low of $241.94 during the session.
The decision came after a Reuters report Monday said OpenAI is dissatisfied with the inference capabilities of certain new NVIDIA AI chips and has looked into alternatives like AMD. Inference refers to when a trained AI model produces responses, a task that may benefit from chip designs distinct from those used for training large models.
AMD faces a tricky but potentially advantageous moment. The company will release its quarterly results after Tuesday’s close, and investors have been quick to pick up on any indication that major AI customers are expanding their supplier base beyond Nvidia.
Analysts forecast AMD will post adjusted earnings near $1.32 per share on about $9.6 billion in revenue for the December quarter, Bloomberg consensus shows, as cited by Yahoo Finance. The report also highlighted rising investor caution around whether Big Tech’s AI investments are delivering immediate gains for chipmakers.
RBC Capital Markets analyst Srini Pajjuri held a “Sector Perform” rating and maintained a $230 target but flagged expectations for a “beat and raise” fueled by server demand and market-share gains. He also highlighted execution risks tied to rack-scale systems and supply constraints. Additionally, Pajjuri warned that custom in-house chips — ASICs, or application-specific integrated circuits — could narrow the competitive landscape by 2026-27. Investing.com
HSBC analyst Frank Lee bumped his price target up to $335 from $300 while maintaining a Buy rating, according to Barron’s. He linked the outlook to “agentic AI” — software that plans and acts with minimal human input — which could boost server CPU demand.
The OpenAI report shook up the sector unevenly. Nvidia shares fell roughly 3.1% on Tuesday, whereas Intel climbed around 2.3%.
Investors are keen to hear details on data-center revenue and AI accelerator supply, along with whether AMD can expand demand past a few key marquee clients. Updates on the timing of new accelerators and rack-scale products will draw close scrutiny, especially after recent turbulence in the AI hardware sector.
The scene remains unsettled, even for an earnings week. Reuters noted that certain U.S. labor data releases are delayed due to a partial government shutdown, injecting fresh uncertainty into rate and growth forecasts amid corporate reports.
The downside is clear: expectations are sky-high, and a cautious outlook could snuff out the OpenAI buzz fast. Traders also fret that strong demand might hit supply bottlenecks, or that pricing pressure will ramp up as customers haggle for cheaper inference compute.
AMD will release its earnings after the market closes and hold a conference call at 5:00 p.m. EST. The focus will be on guidance for the March quarter and any fresh details on its AI strategy. CTO Mark Papermaster is also lined up to speak at a Morgan Stanley tech conference on March 3.
