AMD CEO Lisa Su says GPU and CPU sales are nearly equal. Wall Street thinks that's not enough.

• AMD's GPU income are nearing CPU sales, driven by AI information halfway demand.
• AMD raised its 2024 GPU income forecast to complete $5 billion, up from $4.5 billion.
• Analysts foretell AMD's GPU income will grow, but CPUs stay important for AI workloads.

If nan cardinal processing portion was nan motor of nan first property of computing, nan graphics processing portion will substance nan adjacent — astatine slightest according to CEOs for illustration AMD's Lisa Su.

"We're really seeing now our GPU business really approaching nan standard of our CPU business," Su said connected nan company's third-quarter net telephone Tuesday.

AMD came up against sky-high investor expectations for AI infrastructure growth, on pinch quick trigger fingers if there's immoderate denotation that request is slowing. AMD adjusted its expectations for GPU income for information centers successful 2024 up from July's $4.5 cardinal forecast to $5 cardinal aliases more. More than $1.5 cardinal of that came successful nan 3rd quarter, Su said. At nan commencement of nan year, nan institution expected yearly GPU information halfway income to beryllium much for illustration $2 billion.

The increasing parity betwixt CPU and GPU for AMD is simply a caller move and reference into it isn't needfully straightforward.

It reflects nan increasing value of GPUs successful nan computing world, but it whitethorn besides constituent to weakness successful nan CPU market. Multiple Wall Street analysts expect information halfway CPU spending to cool down somewhat successful nan first quarter, which could springiness GPUs a larger stock of a smaller pie. Still, nan equilibrium of CPUs to GPUs speaks to nan advancement successful building retired AI information centers and nan finance going into nan space.

Bank of America estimates that AMD has astir 5% of nan AI spot marketplace and that request will turn 50% to 100% adjacent year. So AMD could registry important maturation moreover without making a dent successful Nvidia's lead.

Analysts don't expect GPU income to overtake CPUs moreover arsenic AI matures since inference workloads — nan benignant that generates nan outputs from AI models and products — tally champion connected a operation of nan CPUs and GPUs.

"We deliberation that AMD's existent gross is mostly coming from conclusion applications, which would put their conclusion marketplace stock astatine supra 10%, which seems a precocious bar, fixed a comparatively mini customer set," Morgan Stanley analysts wrote aft nan Tuesday call.

What could besides support this move from becoming imperishable is nan immaturity of nan ecosystem astir AMD GPUs. Software and robust developer communities return clip to build retired and AMD is conscionable 1 twelvemonth into its AI travel — whereas Nvidia has been building its package stack connected apical of nan CUDA model for 18 years.

UBS analysts warned that 2025 whitethorn beryllium yet different modulation twelvemonth successful which AI information centers and GPU income don't scope maturity — predicting higher GPU income successful 2026 than successful 2025. Morgan Stanley analysts agreed calling 2025 different "investment year." The analysts expect $5 cardinal successful GPU income this twelvemonth to scope astir $8 cardinal adjacent year.

AMD's stock value dropped much than 10% Wednesday.

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