AMD Traders Take Profits As Company Unveils Next-Gen Product Plans

Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. AMD stock traded lower Thursday morning as investors took profits following the company’s unveiling of its next-generation CPU and GPU products at the Computex 2018 conference. 

What Happened

On Wednesday, AMD unveiled the highly anticipated 7nm Radeon Vega GPU lineup and the second-generation 12nm Ryzen Threadripper processors. Both products are expected to launch sometime this year. AMD also announced its EPYC processors are now available via Tencent Cloud Services and that its next-generation 7nm “Rome” EPYC processor will begin sampling in the second half of the year.

Why It’s Important

The performance and market reception of AMD’s next-generation processors is a key component of the AMD bull thesis. Earlier this week, Baird analyst Tristan Gerra said AMD’s EPYC processors are getting rave reviews based on their performance. The “Rome” processors, which are expected to launch in July, will mark the first time AMD has taken a slight lead on its competitors when it comes to a major introduction.

Recent performance tests suggest the Ryzen 7 outperforms the Intel Corporation INTC Coffee Lake Core i7; Intel may not have an immediate answer for AMD’s 7nm Radeon Vega GPU.

What’s Next

With AMD stock up 49.2 percent year-to-date to new 52-week highs this week, expectations for the new products are sky-high. Investors will be watching closely to see whether a softening in the GPU market in recent quarters is simply a result of gamers waiting for the new lineup of processors to hit the market, or whether it's a sign that the cyclical boom in the semiconductor market is coming to an end.

Related Links:

BlueFin Research: Graphics Card Market For AMD, Nvidia Continues To Cool In Q2

A Report Card On AMD EPYC Processors From Baird