AMD stock soars 8% after unveiling its powerful MI350 AI chips, signaling a bold challenge to Nvidia’s dominance in AI hardware. Backed by HSBC’s upgrade and a price target boost to $200, AMD is finally stepping out of Nvidia’s shadow. With its next-gen MI400 series expected in 2026, AMD is gaining momentum in the AI arms race. Investors are now watching closely as the company earns new credibility in high-performance AI chips. As AMD chips line up for enterprise adoption from tech giants like Microsoft and OpenAI, the stock’s breakout hints at a potential power shift in AI.
jumps nearly 8% as new AI chips take aim at Nvidia's lead: Advanced Micro Devices Inc. (NASDAQ: AMD) surged 7.9% on Tuesday, closing at $157.79, after HSBC upgraded the stock and nearly doubled its price target to $200. The boost came as analysts and investors digested new details about AMD's latest AI chips — the Instinct MI350 series — which analysts now say could directly challenge Nvidia’s Blackwell lineup, while costing roughly 30% less. This rally isn’t just about price movement. It’s part of a bigger shift in the AI chip race, where AMD, once seen as a second-tier competitor, is now stepping up as a serious rival to Nvidia’s dominance in AI data center hardware.
The excitement started when HSBC upgraded AMD from “Hold” to “Buy” and raised its price target from $100 to $200, citing the strength of the new MI350 chips, particularly the MI355X, which delivers 22 terabytes per second (TB/s) of memory bandwidth — nearly three times that of Nvidia’s Blackwell B200, which stands at around 8 TB/s.
What makes this even more eye-catching is the price. At approximately $25,000 per chip, AMD’s MI350 chips are expected to be 30% cheaper than Nvidia’s comparable offerings, according to HSBC's note covered by MarketWatch and Barron's.
And this isn’t all. The company already has key customers lined up — Oracle, Microsoft, Meta, and OpenAI — putting real momentum behind what could be AMD’s strongest push into AI yet.
Looking further ahead, AMD is already preparing its next big leap with the MI400 series, scheduled to launch in 2026. These chips, part of AMD’s AI accelerator roadmap, will reportedly include 432GB of HBM4 memory, and are designed for rack-scale infrastructure, aligning with broader data center trends like helios platforms. AMD also has strategic alignments forming with OpenAI and other cloud titans, which could give it an edge as demand for generative AI hardware continues to explode. Reports from Investopedia, Nasdaq, and TechRadar have highlighted how AMD’s roadmap now places it squarely in competition with Nvidia’s upcoming , which had been seen as the uncontested future standard just a year ago. Technically, AMD is on fire. The stock just broke out of a flag pattern, which typically signals a strong continuation trend. Trading volume surged to a one-week high, and momentum indicators such as Relative Strength Index (RSI) and moving averages are flashing bullish signals, according to technical breakdowns from Investors.com.
Still, while the chart looks strong, the real test will come during AMD’s next earnings report on August 5, and any new announcements on chip shipments or cloud deployments.
Despite the excitement, Nvidia still holds the crown when it comes to software dominance — especially through its CUDA ecosystem, which boasts over 5 million developers. AMD, meanwhile, continues to build out its competing ROCm platform, but it’s not yet as mature or widely adopted.
Additionally, execution risk remains. AMD needs to deliver its chips on time, at scale, and with performance that matches the hype. Analysts from firms like Goldman Sachs remain cautious, noting that AMD’s market share in AI accelerators is still in early innings.
AMD’s latest jump isn’t just a reaction to an analyst upgrade. It signals a broader change in how investors view the company’s place in the rapidly growing AI market. With the MI350 chips already drawing comparisons to Nvidia’s best — and doing it at a lower price — AMD is proving it’s no longer just playing catch-up.
And with the MI400 series already in development, AMD may finally be ready to move from challenger to co-leader in AI data centers. But how much ground it gains will depend on execution, software traction, and how Nvidia responds.
As the battle heats up, investors should keep a close eye on , , and most importantly, — because this AI story is just getting started.
FAQs:
The release of MI350 AI chips and a major HSBC upgrade pushed AMD stock up 8%.
Can AMD’s MI350 chips really compete with Nvidia?
Yes, AMD’s MI350 chips offer high bandwidth and are 30% cheaper than Nvidia’s Blackwell GPUs.
