What's going on?

AMD announced a strong quarterly update earlier this week, with the chipmaker posting a clean sweep of better-than-expected results.

What does this mean?

AMD shot the lights out last quarter, with each of its segments growing by double-digit percentages compared to the same time the year before. High demand for PC gaming and consoles like the PlayStation 5 and Xbox One gave its gaming chip sales a lift, while AMD�s seriously profitable data center business was firing on all cylinders. In fact, nearly half of all new data center chips installed in March were made by AMD, according to analysts at Jefferies. All in all, then, AMD�s revenue was 71% higher last quarter than the same time last year, and its revenue outlook for this quarter topped expectations too. Investors had heard enough: they sent the chipmaker�s shares up 8%.

Why should I care?

The bigger picture: AMD�s advantage.
If it�s able to hit its forecast, AMD could end 2022 with almost quadruple the revenue it made in 2019. A big part of that is down to its relationship with contract chipmaking giant TSMC, whose cutting-edge technology and manufacturing techniques allow it to make far better-quality chips than its rivals. That might be why AMD continued to poach market share from other PC-makers, even as global computer shipments are estimated to have fallen 6.8% last quarter.

Zooming out: Intel�s luck is running out.
One competitor losing out to AMD is Intel, whose quarterly results didn�t exactly light the world on fire last week. The chipmaking giant only just managed to scrape past revenue expectations, and it gave a disappointing revenue and profit outlook for this quarter, suggesting demand for its lower-quality chips is falling across the board. That threw investors off, and they sent its stock down.