Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) CEO Lisa Su's meeting with Chinese Vice-Premier He Lifeng has raised expectations that the U.S. may ease some AI chip export restrictions on China. The high-level sit-down in Beijing is the latest sign that Washington might be shifting away from broad tech decoupling, potentially allowing sales of upper-mid-tier AI chips while still restricting the most advanced semiconductors.
Speaking at AMD's AI developer event in Shanghai, Su called China "the world's most dynamic AI ecosystem" and reaffirmed the company's commitment to the market, which accounts for about one-quarter of AMD's annual revenue. The optimism follows reports that the Trump administration approved Nvidia H200 AI chip sales to select Chinese firms, signaling a potential policy shift. However, Chinese companies are also accelerating adoption of domestic alternatives from Huawei Technologies and other local chipmakers.
Separately, Citi raised its price forecast on AMD to $460 from $358 while maintaining a neutral rating, citing a projected "CPU renaissance" driven by AI workloads. Analyst Atif Malik said the server CPU market could grow to $132 billion by 2030 as agentic AI increases demand for CPU processing power. Citi said AMD could benefit from its EPYC server chip momentum and priority manufacturing access at Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. The firm also said industry discussions suggest AMD may have secured Anthropic as a customer for its next-generation MI450 AI accelerators, with a potential announcement expected at AMD's July Advancing AI event.
Looking further out, the next major catalyst for the stock arrives with the August 4, 2026 (estimated) earnings report. Analysts expect EPS of $1.55, up from $0.48 a year ago, and revenue of $11.28 billion, up from $7.68 billion. The stock trades at a P/E of 140.3x, indicating a premium valuation relative to peers.
The stock carries a Buy rating with an average price forecast of $446.76. Recent analyst moves include Evercore ISI Group raising its forecast to $579.00 on May 19, Citigroup raising to $460.00 on May 18, and Daiwa Capital upgrading to Outperform with a $500.00 target on May 13.
AMD shares were down 1.78% at $413.50 during premarket trading on Tuesday.
