Processor sales boost AMD revenue

After an upbeat 2017, Advanced Micro Devices also is off to a strong start in 2018.

The chipmaker Wednesday reported revenue of $1.65 billion for its first quarter, a 40 percent jump from the same quarter a year ago. The company’s quarterly profit was $81 million, or 8 cents per share, up from a loss of $33 million a year ago.

Accounting for one time costs and gains, AMD reported adjusted earnings of 11 cents per share. A consensus of analysts polled by Zacks Investment Research had predicted AMD’s profit to be 9 cents per share.

AMD also projected revenue of $1.7 billion for the current quarter. That also topped analysts estimates and helped the company’s shares jump nearly 10 percent in after-hours trading. AMD’s share price has risen by more than 350 percent since January 2016.

AMD said its first-quarter sales were boosted by its computing and graphics segment and its new line of Ryzen processors. AMD’s chips are mainly used in the gaming and video editing industries.

“PC, gaming and data center adoption of our new, high-performance products continues to accelerate,” CEO Lisa Su said in a written statement Wednesday. “We are excited about our long-term roadmaps and focused on delivering sustained revenue growth and profitability.”

AMD’s formal headquarters are in California, but the company runs the bulk of its operations in Austin and employs roughly 1,500 people in Central Texas.

Beginning this year, AMD adopted new revenue recognition accounting standards by the Financial Accounting Standards Board. The new standards alter how public companies record certain revenue such as that from sales to distributors. AMD adjusted its finances for 2016 and 2017 for comparative reasons.

AMD has had a busy year. In 2017, the company successfully released its new line of Ryzen computer processors, which helped AMD reach profitability again and marked the start of a new and more competitive era with its much larger foe Intel.

Earlier this month, AMD released its second version of the Ryzen line, promising its tar-

get audience a smoother, quieter and more productive product than its first Ryzen generation.

The new Ryzen processors have been well reviewed by analysts, and its release of both generations of Ryzen processors have put AMD back on the map after years of sluggish performance.

AMD’s computing and graphics division revenue grew 95 percent year-overyear to $1.12 billion, primarily through strong sales of its Radeon computer products and Ryzen line.

“Looking forward, we are confident that we have the right long-term strategy to deliver sustained revenue and profitability growth,” Su said in a written statement. “The market TAM in high-performance computing will grow to over $75 billion over the next few years including high growth segments like gaming, data center, machine learning and artificial intelligence. We have built a strong execution engine and we will continue to make significant investments in hardware and software to deliver an even more compelling roadmap for our customers in 2019 and beyond.”

However, not all has gone smoothly for AMD. At the beginning of the year, the chipmaker confirmed that a security flaw named Spectre affected some of its processors, including its first Ryzen line.

The company has since launched patches and guidelines to address the security risks.