AMD's Lisa Su addresses guidance concerns, says demand still accelerating for advanced chips
Published Wed, Feb 4 2026
10:15 AM EST
Samantha Subin@samantha_subinWATCH LIVEKey Points
- AMD CEO Lisa Su defended the company's earnings results and forecast and said that "AI is accelerating at a pace that I would not have imagined."
- Su said the chipmaker has seen a step up in demand and its data center business over the last two to three months.
- AMD topped fourth-quarter estimates from Wall Street, but issued guidance that some analysts viewed as soft given the recent AI spending spree.
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AMD CEO Lisa Su: AI is accelerating at a pace that I would not have imagined
Squawk on the StreetAdvanced Micro Devices CEO Lisa Su defended the company's lackluster forecast, telling CNBC on Wednesday that the chipmaker has seen a step up in demand over the last two to three months.
Shares tanked 13% Wednesday.
"What I would tell you from someone on the inside is AI is accelerating at a pace that I would not have imagined," she told CNBC's "Squawk on the Street," adding that demand continues to outstrip compute needs.
Su said AMD's datacenter business has accelerated from the fourth to first quarter and demand for its central processing units is "going gangbusters" as businesses rapidly increase compute for AI enterprise work.
The company posted fourth-quarter results Tuesday that topped Wall Street's expectations but were overshadowed by what some analysts viewed as a weak outlook.
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AMD said it expects $9.8 billion in revenue, plus or minus $300 million, during the first quarter. Expectations were for $9.38 billion.
Some analysts anticipated a far stronger outlook from the company, fueled by heightened AI spending and massive data center buildouts.
AMD also had a high bar to clear this quarter following a wave of megadeals in the fourth quarter, including partnerships with OpenAI and Oracle in the fourth quarter. Companies have also been boosting investments as the need for datacenters to power AI tools continues to skyrocket.
Su told CNBC that AMD will see an "inflection point" in the second half as begins shipping its new integrated server-scale AI system known as Helios and that the company is on track with the launch.
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Watch CNBC's full interview with AMD Chair and CEO Lisa Su