Lisa Su: "We expect 2027 revenue to grow more than 80%"

AMD Chair and CEO Lisa Su projected that revenue will grow by more than 80% next year. The reason is that agentic artificial intelligence (AI), which handles tasks on its own, is driving up demand not only for graphics processing units (GPUs) but also for server central processing units (CPUs).

Speaking on the conference call for 2026 third-quarter results, held after U.S. markets closed on the 3rd (local time), Su said, “Based on the visibility we have today, we expect revenue to grow by more than 80% in 2027.” She forecast that the data center segment will account for more than 80% of total revenue next year and that most of the growth in revenue and profit will also come from that segment.

The company's third-quarter revenue hit a record $13.377 billion (about 18 trillion won), up about 45% from a year earlier. Adjusted earnings per share (EPS) came to $2.09. Data center revenue rose 97% to $8.546 billion, setting another record and accounting for about 64% of total revenue.

Su highlighted that demand for AI computing is broadening. Beyond the accelerators used for model training and generating responses, she argued, more CPUs are needed for agents to work across various applications and enterprise systems. She said personal and enterprise agents are “quickly emerging as the next key application for cloud CPUs,” adding, “These agents operate continuously and in parallel across multiple applications and enterprise systems.”

Reflecting this, AMD also raised its outlook for next year's revenue from the server CPU business. It had previously projected growth of “more than 70%” but now sets it at “about double.” Su said growth will come not from raising prices but from increasing shipment volumes and the number of cores per processor. She projected data center AI revenue to grow far more than twofold.

The product lineup is also expanding. In the third quarter, AMD began revenue shipments of its next-generation server CPU “Venice.” Su said, “It has the strongest early demand of any new Epyc generation.” The company also unveiled its “Helion” server design, which lets customers choose a CPU alone or a CPU-GPU combination for agent workloads.

In AI accelerators, the key is to increase supply of the MI450 series and “Helios,” the rack-scale system that incorporates it. AMD named Anthropic, Meta, Microsoft (MS), OpenAI and Oracle as customers running models and various workloads on early systems. Su said discussions are under way with major customers even on the next-generation MI500 and MI600, adding, “Our goal is to take an increasingly larger share of customers' compute demand.” She also presented total cost of ownership, which accounts for power, equipment and operating costs on top of chip performance, as the yardstick of competition.

Asked about investor concerns over customers' data center readiness, she replied that AMD has been drawing up supply expansion plans together with customers. “We know which data center and which region the GPUs will go to,” she said, explaining that the company is also examining installation infrastructure such as land, power and buildings. She nonetheless added, “It is true that demand exceeds supply,” saying the company continues to work with partners to increase wafer, advanced packaging and memory volumes.

Rising component prices are a burden. Su said that although the company has signed long-term contracts with some suppliers and customers, cost pressure is emerging not only in memory but also in other components. “We are working with customers to share these costs going forward,” she said.

Nor does a larger top line immediately improve profitability. CFO Jean Hu expects data center AI revenue to surpass server CPU revenue for the first time in the fourth quarter. But she said the gross margin of the data center AI segment is below the company average, so the overall margin could move with changes in the business mix. AMD's fourth-quarter adjusted gross margin guidance is around 55%, lower than the third quarter's 56%.

It took a cautious view of the PC market. Su said rising component prices affect finished-product prices and consumer demand, and that the company is drawing up its business plan on the assumption that global PC shipments will decline by double digits next year. In the third quarter, PC client revenue rose 7% from a year earlier, but gaming revenue plunged 40%, so combined PC and gaming revenue fell 8%.

Su cited the ability to shift supply volumes between PCs and data centers as an AMD strength. It means the company can cope with weakening PC demand while moving volumes to the data center business, where demand is relatively solid. Ultimately, whether AMD's growth outlook for next year materializes is seen as depending on how well it manages the supply and cost burdens that arise as it converts agentic AI demand into actual shipments.