Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) delivered a “beat and raise” performance for the first quarter of 2026, sending its shares up 16.5% in after-market trading. Driven by an insatiable demand for artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure, the company exceeded analyst expectations across key financial metrics while providing a blockbuster outlook for the upcoming quarter.
AMD’s first-quarter revenue reached $10.25 billion, a 38% year-over-year increase that surpassed the estimated $9.89 billion. The primary engine behind this growth was the Data Center segment, which posted revenue of $5.8 billion—a 57% surge compared to the previous year. CEO Dr. Lisa Su emphasized that the Data Center has now become the company’s primary driver of revenue and earnings growth as inferencing and “agentic AI” fuel demand for high-performance CPUs and accelerators. Non-GAAP diluted earnings per share (EPS) hit $1.37, beating the $1.28 estimate and marking a 43% annual increase.
Other segments also contributed to the momentum. The Client and Gaming division reported $3.6 billion in revenue, up 23% year-over-year, while the Embedded segment grew 6% to $873 million. Strategic highlights included Meta’s plan to deploy up to 6 gigawatts of AMD Instinct GPUs and a collaboration with Samsung for HBM4 memory supply.
Looking ahead, AMD issued an optimistic second-quarter guidance, projecting revenue of approximately $11.2 billion (+/- $300 million), significantly ahead of the $10.52 billion analyst consensus. This midpoint represents a 46% year-over-year growth. The company expects an adjusted gross margin of approximately 56%. While server CPU revenue is forecast to jump more than 70% in Q2, management cautioned that gaming revenue may drop by over 20% in the second half of the year due to weakening consumer demand and rising component costs.
