AMD has projected it will generate roughly $17 billion in revenue during its upcoming quarter, outpacing Intel's forecast of $15 billion to $16 billion and potentially making AMD the leading vendor of x86 processors for the first time. The company announced these projections alongside its third-quarter 2026 earnings on Tuesday, revealing substantial growth driven primarily by data center demand. If the predictions hold, AMD would claim market leadership in chip sales revenue, though Intel would retain higher total revenue due to its foundry business.
The chipmaker reported revenue climbed 45 percent year-over-year to $13.4 billion in the third quarter of 2026. Its Data Center segment pulled in $8.5 billion, jumping 97 percent compared to the same period last year. Meanwhile, the client and gaming division saw sales drop eight percent to $3.7 billion, a steeper decline than Intel's five percent fall in similar business lines. Within that segment, PC chip sales actually rose seven percent year-over-year to $2.9 billion, with the gaming portion responsible for the overall downturn.
CEO Lisa Su told investors that "2027 is going to be a very strong momentum year for both the CPU business as well as the data center AI business," forecasting overall company growth exceeding 80 percent. According to Su, the data center CPU business will roughly double, while the data center AI segment will more than double by a significant margin. She also noted that commercial buyers are becoming a larger share of AMD's client business, with major banks, automotive firms, and healthcare organizations deploying Ryzen PRO PCs across their workforces.
Su credited AMD's supply chain planning for its ability to meet surging demand, explaining the company has secured wafers, substrates, advanced packaging, memory, and other critical components needed for accelerated growth next year. The CEO expressed confidence that AMD can sustain exceptional revenue expansion for years ahead, with earnings increasing at an even faster pace. Strong sales of Ryzen mobile processors drove the PC chip growth, and the shift toward large enterprise customers positions AMD to capture higher-margin business rather than competing primarily in small business and retail markets. Investors responded positively to the earnings report, pushing AMD's share price up approximately five percent in after-hours trading.
The forecasts suggest AMD has positioned itself to pull ahead decisively in the x86 processor race after years of challenging Intel's dominance, though execution on supply chain commitments and product roadmaps will determine whether the momentum continues through 2027. Corporate buyers gravitating toward AMD's platforms could reshape procurement patterns across industries where Intel has historically held entrenched relationships.