AMD rockets 17% to record high after rival Intel delays next-generation chips

• Advanced Micro Devices shares surged as much as 17% to a record high on Friday after rival firm Intel announced its next-generation processors are delayed.
• AMD led the Nasdaq composite and S&P 500 through the session and now sits up 50% year-to-date.
• Intel's announcement marred an otherwise positive earnings report. The company beat estimates for revenue and profit, but the chip delay and weak guidance led investors to flee the stock.
• Intel's 7-nanometer chips won't reach products until late 2022 at the earliest, the firm's president said. AMD already sells its own 7-nm processor.
• Watch AMD trade live here.

Advanced Micro Devices stock rallied as much as 17% on Friday after top rival Intel announced a delay to its next-generation processors.

The surge placed AMD shares at a record high and established the stock as the biggest winner in both the Nasdaq composite and S&P 500. The semiconductor company is up roughly 50% year-to-date, benefitting from a broader tech rally from the market's March lows.

Intel's Friday announcement marred an otherwise positive second-quarter earnings report. The chipmaker reported better-than-expected earnings and revenue. Still, investors looked through the figures and focused on a delay to a key development in chip technology.

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"We are seeing an approximate six-month shift in our 7-nanometer-based CPU product timing relative to prior expectations," Intel CEO Bob Swan said in the report, citing a "defect mode" in the chips.

Intel also disappointed with its third-quarter guidance, forecasting earnings per share of $1.10 compared to a slightly higher estimate. The company's shares tumbled as much as 18% on the news.

AMD already sells 7-nanometer chips, giving the company a distinct lead over several peers. A smaller nanometer process allows chipmakers to place smallers transistors on a chip. Smaller transistors are also more power-efficient.

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Intel now expects its first 7-nm chips to reach products in late 2022 or 2023. Data-center products will receive 7-nm chips in the first half of 2023, Swan added.

AMD traded at $68.74 as of 2:25 p.m. ET Friday.

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