Advanced Micro Devices closed above a $1 trillion market capitalisation for the first time on 21 September 2026, ending at $615.52 and rising 10% on the day after an intraday high of $615.99.
The rally was triggered by Meta's consumer AI agent Muse hitting No. 1 on Apple's US App Store. Traders interpreted that as evidence that AI inference will require far more CPUs alongside GPUs, a workload where AMD is a major supplier. Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan reinforced the narrative by saying CPU demand is so high Intel can supply only 50% of customers.
AMD's fundamentals included second-quarter revenue of $11.54 billion, up 50% year over year, with data centre revenue of $6.72 billion, up 107% and making up 58% of total revenue. Earnings per share reached $1.66, up 82% from a year earlier. Third-quarter guidance was about $13 billion, plus or minus $300 million. TrendForce reported AMD plans price increases of about 10% on AI accelerators, graphics chips and chipsets from the fourth quarter, citing higher TSMC costs.
Warrant agreements with Meta and OpenAI tied to GPU purchase commitments of up to six gigawatts have a final stock-price hurdle at $600. Crossing that level satisfies the price condition but does not by itself trigger share issuance; deployment milestones still apply.
Analyst consensus among 55 analysts is "Strong Buy" with an average target of $616.51, almost exactly the current price, and recent targets range from $594 to $650. Valuation sits at about 81 times 2026 expected earnings and 40 times 2027 earnings. Scenario views include a bear case near $500, a base case between $635 and $650, and a bull case around $780.
The broader semiconductor sector moved with the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index up 4.3%, the Nasdaq-100 up 2.8% and the S&P 500 up 1.5%. Intel and Arm rose by double digits, while Nvidia gained about 2.3%.
