AMD shares surge after Microsoft AI partnership and analyst upgrades

Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) saw its stock rise about 8% on Tuesday, reaching the mid‑$540 range, after the chipmaker announced an expanded partnership with Microsoft. Microsoft will deploy AMD’s new Helios rack‑scale systems on its Azure cloud platform to run AI inference workloads, aiming to lower customers’ cost per token. AMD executive Forrest Norrod highlighted the focus on total cost of ownership and said shipments are expected later this year.

The rally was reinforced by analyst upgrades. Wall Street Zen lifted AMD from a hold to a buy, while firms such as Stifel Nicolaus and TD Cowen raised price targets to $635 and $675 respectively. The consensus rating moved to a “moderate buy,” supporting the sharp price gain.

The partnership positions AMD as a growing challenger to Nvidia in the data‑center AI chip market, where Nvidia presently holds a dominant share.