AMD Stock Upgraded as AI Chip Rival Nvidia Spirals

Advanced Micro Devices Inc. (NASDAQ:AMD), Nvidia Corp‘s (NASDAQ:NVDA) most direct competitor in the graphics processing unit (GPU) market, picked up a bullish call from William Blair on Thursday, hours before Nvidia founder Jensen Huang resigned as CEO.

William Blair analyst Sebastien Naji lifted AMD to Outperform from Market Perform, CNBC reported. 

• AMD stock is climbing. Get all the details here. 

The Bull Case

The firm pointed to a potential leadership vacuum at Nvidia as an opening for AMD to win share in AI chips. Its growth forecast is aggressive. William Blair expects AMD revenue to rise more than 80% in 2027 and projects data center AI revenue will surpass the server CPU business in the fourth quarter.

Two of the biggest AI spenders, Meta Platforms Inc. (NASDAQ:META) and OpenAI, are designing chips of their own. William Blair weighed those efforts against the upheaval at Nvidia.

"Meanwhile, Nvidia is facing increased scrutiny and a potential leadership vacuum, and while ASIC competition remains a risk to Instinct, we see an opportunity for AMD to benefit from custom programs as an opportunity for CPU attach," the analyst wrote.

Naji added AMD can stay focused on execution while its largest rival contends with "a growing leadership and regulatory imbroglio."

Huang, 63, had no obvious successor, leaving Nvidia under interim CEO Colette Kress, who will also keep her role as CFO.

The board also named Harvey C. Jones as its first-ever chair. 

How Nvidia Got Here

The crisis unfolded in five days. Huang admitted Sunday to an affair with Alice Huang, a Megaspeed executive who U.S. intelligence agencies say has been passing information to Beijing. 

The New York Times later reported a second relationship, with Kimberly Powell, Nvidia’s vice president of health, who reported to Huang.

The board met Wednesday night after The Wall Street Journal reported directors were preparing to force him out. Lawmakers including Sen. Kevin Cramer (R-N.D.) had also called on Huang to resign.

AMD’s Opening

AMD enters the moment with a foothold at one of the largest AI buyers. OpenAI agreed last year to build a one-gigawatt facility on AMD’s MI450 chips beginning in the second half of 2026, a deal AMD executives expected to bring in tens of billions of dollars in annual revenue. 

Leadership uncertainty at Nvidia could push other hyperscalers to hedge their bets. William Blair sees AMD as the natural beneficiary, with two ways to win. Instinct accelerators compete head-on for GPU spending. Where customers build custom chips instead, AMD processors can still ride along.

The firm expects the shift to show up quickly. Data center AI revenue is on track to pass server CPU sales in the fourth quarter, a first for a company built on processors.

Nvidia has to steady its own ship before it can fight for new orders. AMD gets a window in the meantime.

AMD Stock Price Activity: AMD stock was up more than 5.5% at $583.43 at the time of publication on Thursday, according to Benzinga Pro.

Nvidia is down

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