US chip company AMD became the latest equity to reach a US$1 trillion valuation on Monday due to the massive investment boom over artificial intelligence.

AMD shares closed 10 percent higher, extending a surge that has added some US$200 billion in valuation to the semiconductor company in a week.

The California-based company, which has announced ventures with both OpenAI and Anthropic, notched a 50 percent jump in second-quarter revenues over the year-ago level to US$11.5 billion, thanks to a more than doubling of data centre revenue.

In releasing results in early August, AMD said it expects data centre sales to accelerate in the second half of 2026.

It becomes only the fourth US chipmaker to top a US$1 trillion valuation, after Nvidia, Broadcom and Micron. Nvidia crossed the mark in 2023 and is now the world's most valuable company, worth more than US$5 trillion.

"Money is moving back into the AI trade," said Thomas Hayes, chairman at Great Hill Capital LLC in New York.

Enthusiasm for chipmakers cooled in recent months as markets scrutinised AI spending by hyperscalers. Higher oil prices linked to the US-Iran conflict and expectations of higher-for-longer interest rates added to the pressure.

But now investors believe AI is the only area that can work in a Federal Reserve-induced economic slowdown, Hayes said. "AMD is representative of that."

Most chip stocks surged on Monday, with AMD-rival Intel jumping around 11.8 percent and Qualcomm rising 4.5 percent. The broader chips index gained 2.7 percent to an over one-month high. (Agencies)



Edited by Cecil Wong