SKN | BNP Paribas Raises AMD Price Target to $960 on AI Infrastructure Growth

Key Takeaways:

• BNP Paribas raised its AMD price target to $960 from $600, maintaining an Outperform rating and arguing that AMD is evolving from a chip supplier into a broader AI infrastructure platform.
• Data Center revenue increased 107% to $6.72 billion, while AMD has secured major AI infrastructure commitments involving OpenAI, Meta and Anthropic.
• The valuation case carries substantial execution risk, with AMD trading at elevated levels and facing export controls, memory constraints, tariffs and the cyclical nature of semiconductor demand.

BNP Paribas Sees AMD Expanding Beyond Conventional Chip Markets

BNP Paribas analyst Karl Ackerman raised his AMD price target by 60% to $960 while maintaining an Outperform rating. The analysis argues that AMD is increasingly becoming a full-stack AI systems provider rather than remaining primarily a semiconductor supplier.

The thesis extends beyond graphics processing units into CPUs designed for increasingly autonomous AI systems. Ackerman estimates that the agentic CPU market could reach approximately $245 billion by 2030, creating another potential growth avenue for AMD.

The analyst also points to Helios, AMD’s rack-scale AI system, as a potentially important component of the company’s infrastructure strategy. According to the source, Helios has received commitments representing 14 gigawatts of capacity.

AI Infrastructure Commitments Strengthen the Growth Narrative

AMD’s relationships with major AI developers are central to the revised outlook. OpenAI, Meta and Anthropic have signed multi-gigawatt agreements, while Ackerman estimates AMD could capture at least 8% of a global GPU market exceeding $1 trillion by 2030.

The company is also positioning itself in custom silicon. AMD expects ASICs and XPUs to eventually account for roughly 25% of the accelerator market, while its Cerebras partnership and Taalas acquisition are intended to strengthen its position in specialized AI computing.

For global investors, the significance is broader than AMD’s GPU market share. The potential opportunity encompasses compute infrastructure, rack-scale systems, CPUs, custom accelerators and the broader hardware stack required to support increasingly sophisticated AI workloads.

Data Center Revenue Has Become the Core Growth Engine

AMD’s second-quarter results reinforce the shift toward data-center and AI infrastructure demand. Revenue reached $11.54 billion, up 50.1% year over year and above the $11.31 billion consensus estimate. Non-GAAP earnings per share of $1.66 also exceeded the $1.61 estimate.

Data Center revenue increased 107% to $6.72 billion and represented approximately 58% of total sales. Gaming revenue, by contrast, declined 31%, highlighting the increasing importance of enterprise and infrastructure markets to AMD’s financial profile.

Management guided for approximately $13 billion of third-quarter revenue, plus or minus $300 million, while expecting Data Center revenue to more than double year over year in 2027.

Higher Expectations Increase the Importance of Execution

The scale of BNP Paribas’ target stands out against broader analyst expectations. AMD was reported at $630.88 in the source, already up 194.58% year to date, while the consensus price target was approximately $619.51.

The source also reports that 39 analysts rated the shares Buy, five rated them Strong Buy and 11 rated them Hold, with no Sell ratings. Consensus 2027 earnings estimates increased to $15.58 from $13.18 over the preceding 90 days.

That momentum raises the importance of execution. Helios shipments, third-quarter results relative to guidance and the deployment of Anthropic’s first gigawatt, scheduled to begin in the first half of 2027, are among the milestones that could determine whether current infrastructure commitments translate into realized revenue.

AMD also carries significant volatility. The source reports a beta of 2.476 and notes that the company pays no dividend. Export restrictions on AI accelerators, memory supply constraints, tariffs and semiconductor cyclicality remain material risks to the investment thesis.

Closing Insights

BNP Paribas’ $960 target reflects an expansive view of AMD’s potential role in the AI infrastructure ecosystem. The thesis depends not only on GPU market-share gains but also on AMD successfully expanding into rack-scale systems, agentic CPUs and custom AI accelerators.

For global wealth investors, the opportunity is therefore closely tied to execution against exceptionally high expectations. The company’s accelerating Data Center business and major customer commitments provide important support, but valuation, volatility and supply-chain and regulatory risks require disciplined portfolio sizing and ongoing monitoring.

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