Advanced Micro Devices Inc. and Super Micro Computer Inc. delivered back-to-back earnings beats that rippled across the chip sector, lifting the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index 5.0% and pushing the S&P 500 to a fresh record close of 7,365. Optimism over a potential U.S.-Iran de-escalation provided a second tailwind; the Nasdaq gained 2.02% and SOXX closed at $506.87, its strongest session since early April.
Today's biggest movers
| Ticker | Close | Day | 1mo | YTD |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| $SMCI | $34.66 | +24.54% | +48.31% | +11.95% |
| $AMD | $421.39 | +18.61% | +81.77% | +88.57% |
| $ARM | $237.30 | +13.63% | +59.36% | +106.83% |
| $BIDU | $140.59 | +11.37% | +23.86% | -6.46% |
| $DELL | $238.80 | +10.39% | +28.75% | +86.85% |
| $NOW | $89.05 | -3.22% | -8.64% | -39.61% |
| $CRM | $181.19 | -3.10% | +2.73% | -28.56% |
| $CRWD | $468.07 | -1.78% | +9.74% | +3.19% |
| $PLTR | $133.79 | -1.56% | -4.95% | -20.30% |
| $DDOG | $143.71 | -1.39% | +23.36% | +7.43% |
Super Micro surges 25% on earnings beat, legal cloud lingers
Super Micro Computer Inc. (NASDAQ: SMCI) jumped 24.5% after reporting fiscal third-quarter results that beat profit estimates by a wide margin. The San Jose server maker earned $0.84 per share on a non-GAAP basis, against the $0.61 LSEG consensus, a 38% outperformance. Revenue of $10.24 billion missed the $12.33 billion estimate, but management attributed the gap to power and networking readiness delays at customer data centres; the company characterised the shortfall as timing rather than demand. Forward guidance dominated sentiment: Super Micro guided Q4 revenue to $11 billion to $12.5 billion, raised its full-year fiscal 2026 target to $38.9 billion to $40.4 billion, and guided Q4 adjusted EPS to $0.65 to $0.79 against a $0.55 consensus, as reported by CNBC.
Legal risk remains an open variable. Co-founder and SVP Wally Liaw faces charges of conspiring to route approximately $2.5 billion in Nvidia-chipped servers to Chinese buyers in violation of U.S. export controls, Fortune reported. CEO Charles Liang said on the earnings call that he was confident no other employees beyond those indicted were involved. A securities-fraud class action has a May 25 lead-plaintiff deadline, a date institutional holders are marking.
AMD rockets 19% as data centre revenue surges 57%
Advanced Micro Devices Inc. (NASDAQ: AMD) logged its largest single-session gain in roughly two years, closing up 18.6% after reporting Q1 2026 revenue of $10.3 billion. Data centre was the engine: $5.8 billion in segment revenue, up 57% year over year, driven by strong EPYC server processor shipments and the continuing ramp of Instinct GPU volumes. Non-GAAP EPS of $1.37 cleared the $1.25 consensus. AMD guided Q2 revenue to approximately $11.2 billion, ahead of analyst estimates. "We delivered strong first-quarter results with record data centre revenue," CEO Lisa Su said in AMD's earnings release published on the company's investor relations site.
The print carries implications for the entire AI compute ecosystem. AMD's data centre beat provides evidence that hyperscalers are actively multi-sourcing their GPU and CPU spend, and that EPYC is taking share alongside NVIDIA Corp. (NASDAQ: NVDA). Investors who had followed the stock will recall it had dropped 5% in the session ahead of this report as some participants grew wary of elevated expectations; today's clean beat-and-raise resolved that overhang decisively.