HomeAMD's China Bet and Anthropic Win Spark a $579 Target from Evercore

AMD’s China Bet and Anthropic Win Spark a $579 Target from Evercore

The semiconductor giant is firing on multiple cylinders. While CEO Lisa Su concluded a high-level visit to Beijing on Tuesday, meeting Vice Premier He Lifeng to discuss expanding local operations, the company also locked in a major client for its next-generation AI accelerators. These twin developments have prompted Evercore ISI to nearly double its price target on AMD shares to $579 from $358, maintaining an “Outperform” rating.

The China trip carried geopolitical weight. Fresh off US-China diplomatic talks, Su’s presence in Shanghai for the company’s first international AI developer day signaled a push for looser export restrictions on chip technology. AMD now runs four dedicated research hubs across the country, employing over 4,000 engineers who manage hundreds of cloud instances for Chinese enterprise customers. Su described the local ecosystem as “vibrant” and stressed that China is “extremely important” for the firm’s long-term trajectory.

Just as significant is a reported win in the AI accelerator race. Analysts at Citi, led by Atif Malik, believe AMD has secured Anthropic as a customer for its upcoming MI450 accelerators. An official confirmation is expected at the company’s developer event in July. Malik spoke of a looming “CPU renaissance,” predicting the server processor market will balloon to $132 billion by 2030 as agent-based AI applications demand far more compute power. AMD benefits here from a performance edge and prioritized capacity at TSMC.

Should investors sell immediately? Or is it worth buying AMD?

The numbers back up the bullish narrative. In the most recent quarter, AMD generated total revenue of roughly $10 billion, with the data center segment hitting a record $5.78 billion—a 57% year-over-year jump. Server revenue share climbed to an all-time high of 46.2% in the first quarter. Management targets annual data center growth above 60% for the coming years. On the product roadmap, samples of the MI450 GPU are already with lead customers, with mass production starting in the second half, while the sixth-generation EPYC CPU aims to expand the current 33% server market share.

Yet the stock’s meteoric rise has introduced a note of caution. AMD shares have surged about 87% since the start of the year, trading just below €356 in Frankfurt on Tuesday after a mild consolidation triggered by rising bond yields. The valuation now stands at 58 times forward earnings—more than double Nvidia’s 25 multiple and well above Broadcom’s 38. That rich premium has drawn skepticism from some market observers ahead of benchmark performance tests for the flagship MI400 series later in July.

Institutional investors, however, are undeterred. Recent regulatory filings show Vanguard, State Street, and Amundi all adding to their positions, pushing the institutional ownership ratio above 71%. With Evercore’s aggressive new target, a deepening foothold in Asia, and a marquee client like Anthropic on board, AMD appears to be positioning itself for a direct contest with Nvidia for data center dominance—even as the valuation debate continues.

Ad

AMD Stock: Buy or Sell?! New AMD Analysis from May 19 delivers the answer:

The latest AMD figures speak for themselves: Urgent action needed for AMD investors. Is it worth buying or should you sell? Find out what to do now in the current free analysis from May 19.

AMD: Buy or sell? Read more here...

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here

Must Read

spot_img