AMD's upgraded server CPU forecast lifts US semiconductor stocks, with AMD jumping nearly 18% and rivals Arm Holdings and Micron also surging

AMD raised its server CPU addressable market growth forecast to more than 35% annually through 2030, up from a prior forecast of 18%, citing shift toward inference (the step where AI models are deployed in real-world applications) opening fresh opportunities. AMD shares jumped nearly 18% in premarket trading.

The stock rally reflects broadening demand beyond graphics processing units (GPUs used to train large models) to central processing units (CPUs) as companies adopt agentic AI—systems that perform autonomous functions. Rival Arm Holdings soared 11%, Qualcomm gained about 4%, and Micron Technology surged 6.4%.

AMD shares have climbed about 66% for the year, outpacing Nvidia's gain of 5%, and trade at about 39.66 times forward earnings, well above its five-year average and nearly double Nvidia's roughly 21-times multiple.