Key Takeaways:
- The rally rests on an agent-CPU thesis. Meta’s Muse AI agent has traders betting on much higher server CPU demand. Qualcomm CEO backs the idea, saying “CPU demand will continue to rise.”
- AMD’s estimates are huge, but so is its valuation. Analysts expect AMD’s revenue to grow almost 7x by 2030. AMD stock trades at about 57x next-twelve-month earnings, roughly three times Nvidia’s 18.7x, even though its data center revenue is a fraction of Nvidia’s.
- Intel stock may have run ahead of its numbers. Analysts expect Intel’s revenue to grow about 15% to 20% in the next two years. That looks modest next to a 223% to 245% year-to-date gain, and CPUs are still a small slice of AI spending next to GPUs.
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What Happened?
Qualcomm (QCOM) CEO Cristiano Amon says CPUs will be central to running AI agents. On the TBPN podcast on Sept. 23, he said, “CPU demand will continue to rise.”
Traders are betting he’s right. Meta’s Muse AI agent has set off a chip rally. Stocktwits reports that Intel (INTC) stock is up 17.3% this week and Arm is up 12.4%.
AMD (AMD) stock has also crossed $1 trillion in market value.
The question is whether earnings estimates back the move, or whether the rally is running ahead of them.
Why Muse matters for CPUs
Chatbots answer one prompt at a time. Muse runs inside its own cloud-based virtual machine, so it keeps using computing power.
Wccftech reports that personal AI agents could need four to 40 CPUs for every GPU. More agents could mean more server CPUs for Intel, AMD and Arm.
On Thursday, AMD stock rose 2.4%, and Intel stock rose 3.9%. Year to date, Intel is up 212% and AMD is up 182%. The iShares Semiconductor ETF (SOXX) is up more than 80%.
What Amon said
Amon said CPUs will be key to orchestrating agents. He also said the supply chain is running at full capacity. He added that Qualcomm is only just entering the data center, so he is speaking as a rival too.
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Does AMD’s revenue back the move?
AMD’s revenue was $16.43 billion in 2021 and $34.64 billion in 2025. That’s roughly double in four years.
Analysts expect much more:
- 2026: $50.88 billion, up about 47%
- 2027: $88.10 billion, up about 73%
- 2030: $228.93 billion, more than six times the 2025 level
These are company-wide numbers, not just data center. Even so, the estimates already assume a huge ramp. AMD stock is priced for that ramp.
Is Intel’s price ahead of its estimates?
Intel’s revenue was $52.85 billion in 2025. Analysts expect $63.08 billion in 2026, up about 19%. For 2027, they expect $72.01 billion, up about 14%.
The chart doesn’t show whether those numbers were raised recently, so we can’t say analysts have caught up.
Growth of 14% to 19% is solid. But Intel stock was up more than 200% year-to-date as of Sept. 24, per 247 Wall St.
On Sept. 24, Intel stock fell 3% to below $120 with no company-specific news. It trades around 11.5 times sales, and 32 of 48 analysts rate it Hold.
CPUs are also a small slice of AI spending next to GPUs. Together, that suggests Intel stock has run ahead of the numbers.
Is AMD priced like a “distant No. 2”?
That’s how The Motley Fool describes AMD next to Nvidia. Its Q2 data center revenue was $6.7 billion, versus $89 billion for Nvidia. It also has an estimated 5% share of the GPU market.
The valuation chart tells the same story.
AMD trades at about 57 times next-twelve-month earnings. Nvidia trades at about 18.7 times, near its low of 17.5 times.
AMD’s own average is 37.9 times, and Nvidia’s is 30.6 times.
So AMD stock now costs about three times Nvidia’s multiple.
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Disclaimer:
Please note that the articles on TIKR are not intended to serve as investment or financial advice from TIKR or our content team, nor are they recommendations to buy or sell any stocks. We create our content based on TIKR Terminal’s investment data and analysts’ estimates. Our analysis might not include recent company news or important updates. TIKR has no position in any stocks mentioned. Thank you for reading, and happy investing!
