AMD guidance puts Q4 sales above Intel’s for first time

Advanced Micro Devices ↗ 1.01% expects fourth-quarter revenue of about $17 billion, plus or minus 3%, according to the company's earnings release issued Tuesday, November 3. Intel ↘ 3.77% forecast fourth-quarter revenue of $15 billion to $16 billion in its own third-quarter release. If both companies land within their ranges, AMD's quarterly sales would pass Intel's for the first time, with a gap of roughly $1.5 billion at the midpoints, Tom's Hardware reported. Even the bottom of AMD's range, about $16.49 billion, is above the top of Intel's, Chosun Biz noted.tomshardware.com+3

Data centers drive AMD's surge

AMD's third-quarter revenue rose 45% to a record $13.4 billion, and data center sales nearly doubled from a year earlier, CNBC reported. The company's fourth-quarter outlook beat the $16.23 billion analysts had expected, according to Reuters. Data center revenue reached $8.55 billion, or 64% of AMD's total, and is projected to rise to about $12.8 billion in the fourth quarter as Instinct MI455X accelerators and Helios rack systems ramp, Tom's Hardware said.cnbc.com+2

CEO Lisa Su said AMD now expects total revenue to grow more than 80% in 2027, The Verge reported. "We expect data center to be more than eighty percent of our total revenue in 2027," Su said on the earnings call. AMD's client and gaming segment is a weaker spot. The company expects it to shrink by more than 20% from the third quarter, and it is planning for a double-digit drop in PC shipments next year.theverge.com

Intel's outlook darkens

Intel's guidance came in below the $17.07 billion analysts had expected, The Straits Times reported. The company pointed to an October explosion at its Kiryat Gat fab in Israel, which is expected to cost about $600 million in revenue over two quarters. It also cited supply shortages and rising memory prices that have weakened PC demand. Intel shares dropped sharply after the October 29 report. "We face near-term challenges, including manufacturing supply shortages, the unprecedented memory crunch and the resulting softness in PC demand," CEO Lip-Bu Tan said.straitstimes.com

A reversal years in the making

The fourth-quarter figures would flip the result from just one quarter earlier. Intel's third-quarter revenue rose 21% to $16.5 billion, according to its release, about $3 billion more than AMD brought in. Tom's Hardware said the shift reflects how differently the two companies are positioned. AMD is expanding quickly in data center CPUs and AI accelerators, while Intel still relies heavily on PC and enterprise server chips, which are under pressure from high memory prices. Intel CFO David Zinsner said he expects the PC slowdown to last at least through the first half of 2027.sec.gov