For the record, Lisa Su is not shedding any tears about tariffs.
The chief executive of Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) was responding to a question from the tech journalist Kara Swisher regarding the Trump administration’s ever-changing tariff policy.
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“We’re not sitting in the corner crying,” she said during the May 1 interview. “We are recognizing that semiconductors are now very-high-priority-list. That is definitely new. In the last few years, that’s become top of mind.”
Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said last month that the administration’s decision to exempt a range of electronic devices from tariffs was only a reprieve and those items would be subject to “semiconductor tariffs” that would likely come in “a month or two.”
“The investment arcs are not changing,” Su said. “At the end of the day in the technology business, it’s about making long-term bets. Our job is to build the best, so we have to keep pushing the envelope on new innovation.”
AMD CEO Lisa Su is focused on innovation and shedding no tears about President Trump’s tariff policies.
AMD CEO Su feels the need for speed
Investors will be keeping a sharp eye on AMD as the semiconductor maker is scheduled to report quarterly results after the bell on May 6.
Su became CEO at AMD in 2014 when the company was struggling. Under her leadership, AMD has turned around and In 2022 the company’s overall value surpassed its historical rival Intel’s (INTC) for the first time.
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“I’m not necessarily thinking about tariffs every day,” said Su, who was named Time’s 2024 CEO of the Year. “I’m thinking about how do I go faster. How do we get the technology out faster? How do we get the next big innovation out faster? How do we collaborate better with our customers faster?”
AMD said in mid-April that it expected to take an $800 million charge from restrictions on semiconductor exports to China. The restrictions could amount to a revenue impact of $1.5 billion to $1.8 billion, or about 20% of its expected full-year fiscal 2025 AI sales, according to a Bloomberg Intelligence analysis.
While AMD said it would seek licenses to export to China, receiving them is uncertain. AI-chip kingpin Nvidia (NVDA) said the same limits would cost it $5.5 billion.
AMD shares are down 18.5% since January and have slumped nearly 37% from a year ago.
Analyst: AMD shows consistent execution
Investment firms have been issuing research reports ahead of AMD’s earnings release.
Cantor Fitzgerald reduced the firm’s price target on AMD to $120 from $135 and affirmed an overweight rating on the shares, according to The Fly.
Semiconductor stocks nicely outperformed the broader markets, but the investment firm said it expected volatility to persist ahead of the potential for Section 232 semiconductor restrictions and updates to AI diffusion rules, as well as a likely ongoing increase in friction between U.S. and China.
Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962 empowers the president to restrict imports of products deemed to threaten national security.
Related: Analysts reboot AMD stock price target ahead of earnings
AI diffusion refers to a set of US export controls aimed at managing the global spread of advanced AI technology.
Cantor Fitzgerald said that it viewed semiconductor stocks as “must-own” long term, but it also recognizes that the group is at the center of this sharp friction and will prove to be volatile.
On April 30, Seaport Research initiated coverage of AMD with a buy rating and $110 price target.
AMD has demonstrated consistent execution for years, enabling it to pick up share and erode Intel’s (INTC) longtime dominance in PCs, the firm said.
Seaport said AMD overtook Intel in the data center space last quarter and has “a credible AI product” that competes with Nvidia (NVDA) but lacks Nvidia’s broader portfolio of software and system services.
Stifel calls AMD a buy; cuts estimates for 3 firms
On April 28, Stifel analyst Ruben Roy lowered the firm’s price target on AMD to $132 from $162 and kept a buy rating on the shares.
Following the initial wave of calendar Q1 earnings, results and outlooks across the applied technologies group and adjacencies have “largely fared better than expected,” particularly for companies that have exposure to hyperscaler and AI spending, the analyst tells investors. (The hyperscalers are the major providers of cloud services and infrastructure, like Alphabet, Amazon and Microsoft.)
Related: Microsoft AI surge prompts investment firm to revise stock rating
In a group preview, the analyst said he expects infrastructure-exposed companies to broadly report and guide in line, but he is lowering estimates for three companies.
For AMD, Roy lowered PC expectations; for Lattice Semiconductor (LSCC) Roy said its prior 2026 estimates were “aggressive”; and for IPG Photonics (IPGP) the analyst expressed increased caution on autos and China.
Roy said he was lowering price targets across most of the group to reflect heightened macroeconomic uncertainty and lack of visibility.
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