AMD's Stock Surged 24% on Its OpenAI Partnership and Is Near an All-Time High. Is It Still a Buy?

Core Viewpoint - AMD has struggled to compete with Nvidia in the AI computing market, with Nvidia's stock rising approximately 280% since the start of 2024, while AMD's stock has only increased by nearly 40% during the same period [2] Group 1: AMD's Market Position - AMD is viewed as an alternative to Nvidia, but its GPUs have not gained significant traction in the data center market, which is crucial for AI applications [4][5] - Custom AI accelerator chips from Broadcom have emerged as better alternatives to Nvidia's GPUs, further complicating AMD's position [5] Group 2: Recent Developments - AMD announced a deal with OpenAI, potentially giving OpenAI up to a 10% stake in AMD in exchange for its chips, which led to a 24% surge in AMD's stock [3][6] - The specifics of the AMD and OpenAI deal are unclear, and while it could be valued at $33 billion based on AMD's market cap, it is contingent on the success of AMD's computing capacity build-out [6] Group 3: Competitive Landscape - Nvidia's partnership with Intel poses a threat to AMD, as Intel has historically dominated the CPU market, which is essential for directing traffic in data center GPUs [8] - Many companies have already established an Nvidia ecosystem, which could hinder AMD's ability to compete effectively [9] Group 4: Valuation Concerns - AMD's stock is currently trading at 52 times forward earnings, making it more expensive than both Broadcom and Nvidia despite having lower growth rates [12] - The lack of a significant discount in AMD's stock price compared to Nvidia raises questions about the attractiveness of investing in AMD at this time [13]