Rare earth elements appear to be behind Nvidia’s stance on China. After announcing in June plans to essentially withdraw from the Chinese market, the semiconductor chip and AI giant reversed course and said it was filing an application to restart sales of its H20 AI chip to China. U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said Tuesday that Nvidia’s plans to start selling its H20 AI chips are tied to ongoing trade discussions with China regarding rare earth elements, according to reporting from Reuters. AMD pl ...

Group 1: Stock Performance and Agreements - Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) stock increased by over 4% in a single trading session and has risen nearly 20% over the past month, driven by a new $10 billion agreement with Saudi Arabian startup Humain for CPUs, GPUs, and software to enhance AI infrastructure [1] - Humain plans to construct data centers with approximately 1.9 gigawatts of power capacity by 2030, indicating a strategic move to diversify suppliers away from Nvidia, which presents an opportunity for AMD in the expanding AI market [1] - AMD's Q1 earnings surpassed expectations with a revenue growth of 36% to $7.44 billion, driven by a 57% increase in data center sales to $3.7 billion, highlighting the company's competitive position against Intel in the data center segment [2] Group 2: Regulatory Environment and Market Dynamics - New U.S. export restrictions on AMD's MI308 AI chips could potentially reduce its 2025 revenue by $1.5 billion, with an additional charge of up to $800 million related to inventory and purchasing commitments [3] - Despite these challenges, improving U.S.-China trade relations may lead to a review of chip export restrictions, which could benefit AMD as China accounts for about 24% of its revenue [3] Group 3: Stock Volatility and Market Comparison - AMD stock has exhibited significant volatility over the past four years, with annual returns of 57% in 2021, -55% in 2022, 128% in 2023, and -18% in 2024, contrasting with the more stable performance of the Trefis High Quality (HQ) Portfolio [4] - The HQ Portfolio has consistently outperformed the S&P 500, suggesting that AMD's stock may face challenges in maintaining performance amidst unpredictable macroeconomic conditions [4]