Data center sales drive a record AMD quarter

AMD's investor-relations list stamps the third-quarter 2026 release as Nov 3, 2026 4:15 pm EST. The release reports quarterly revenue of $13.4 billion, a gross margin of 54%, operating income of $2.8 billion, net income of $2.4 billion, and diluted earnings per share of $1.46. On the non-GAAP basis given in the same passage, the gross margin is 56%, operating income is $3.9 billion, net income is $3.5 billion, and diluted earnings per share is $2.09.

Chair and chief executive Lisa Su said the quarter set a record, revenue came in above the high end of the company's guidance, and Data Center segment sales nearly doubled from a year earlier. Chief financial officer Jean Hu said revenue grew 45% year over year to a record $13.4 billion and non-GAAP earnings per share grew 74%, and attributed the operating leverage to the scale of the Data Center business. Data Center segment revenue was a record $8.5 billion, up 97% year over year. The release attributes that increase to demand for EPYC processors and to sales of Instinct MI450 Series GPUs.

Client and Gaming segment revenue was $3.7 billion, down 8% year over year. Within that, Client revenue was $2.9 billion, up 7% year over year, which the release attributes to Ryzen mobile processors. Gaming revenue was $773 million, down 40% year over year, which the release attributes to lower semi-custom and graphics revenue. Embedded segment revenue was $1.1 billion, up 29% year over year, which the release attributes to aerospace and defense, automotive, communications, and industrial end markets.

The quarterly comparison table states the same GAAP figures in millions of dollars, for the three months ended September 26, 2026. Revenue was $13,377 million, against $9,246 million a year earlier and $11,536 million in the prior quarter, up 45% year over year and 16% from the prior quarter. Gross profit was $7,210 million, up 51% year over year and 16% sequentially. Gross margin was 54%, 2 percentage points above a year earlier and flat with the prior quarter. Operating expenses were $4,378 million, up 25% year over year and 4% sequentially. Operating income was $2,832 million, up 123% year over year and 42% sequentially. Operating margin was 21%, compared with 14% a year earlier and 17% in the prior quarter. Net income was $2,428 million and diluted earnings per share was $1.46, each up 95% from a year earlier and 6% from the prior quarter. The segment table lists Data Center at $8,546 million, Client at $2,949 million, Client and Gaming at $3,722 million, and Embedded at $1,109 million. Those are the lines the prose rounds to $8.5 billion, $2.9 billion, $3.7 billion, and $1.1 billion.

On the non-GAAP table, gross profit was $7,483 million, up 50% year over year. Operating income was $3,923 million, up 75% year over year and 27% sequentially. Operating margin was 29%, compared with 24% a year earlier and 27% in the prior quarter. Net income was $3,471 million, up 77% year over year and 26% sequentially. Diluted earnings per share was $2.09, compared with $1.20 a year earlier and $1.66 in the prior quarter. The reconciliation lists a $1,097 million change in the fair value of warrant liability for the quarter, equal to $0.66 a share, and says the change comes from remeasuring warrants issued to certain customers, driven by the stock price and other valuation assumptions. Non-GAAP net income excludes that item and the other reconciling items. For fiscal 2026, the non-GAAP income-tax computation uses a projected rate of 13%. The release says the non-GAAP measures should be read with the GAAP statements and are not a substitute for them.

On the segment operating-income table, Data Center contributed $2,882 million, Client and Gaming $573 million, and Embedded $453 million, while the unallocated All Other category was a loss of $1,076 million. The total is still the $2,832 million of company operating income. Selected data put free cash flow for the quarter at $554 million, a 4% margin. The reconciliation shows $1,202 million of net cash from operating activities of continuing operations and $648 million of purchases of property and equipment. Free cash flow is the first figure minus the second. Adjusted EBITDA was $4,162 million. Cash, cash equivalents, and short-term investments totaled $15,776 million, and total debt was $7,079 million. Those are balance-sheet and cash-flow figures, not a management statement about demand.

The fourth-quarter non-GAAP gross-margin figure of approximately 55% is an outlook, not a reported result. The note says a bridge back to GAAP gross margin typically includes stock-based compensation, amortization of acquired intangible assets, and acquisition-related and other costs. The timing and impact of those adjustments depend on future events that are typically uncertain or outside the company's control, so a reconciliation to the equivalent GAAP measure is not practicable at this time. The release also says the company undertakes no intent or obligation to update or revise the outlook statements for new information or future events, except as may be required by law. The earnings call was set for 2:00 p.m. PT the same day, which is 5:00 p.m. ET.

For the fourth quarter of 2026, AMD expects revenue of approximately $17 billion, plus or minus 3%. The midpoint of that range is approximately 66% growth year over year and approximately 27% growth from the prior quarter. Non-GAAP gross margin is expected to be approximately 55%. The release says these outlook statements rest on current expectations, are forward-looking, and that actual results could differ materially with market conditions and the factors in the cautionary statement. Lisa Su also said growth should accelerate further in the fourth quarter as Helios and the product code-named Venice scale in production. That sentence is an expectation, not revenue already recorded.

A recent-highlights passage says Anthropic, Meta, Microsoft, OpenAI, and Oracle Cloud Infrastructure are running models and workloads on the first AMD Helios rack-scale systems, using Instinct MI450 Series GPUs and 6th Gen EPYC CPUs. The release does not state a 2027 full-year growth rate, and it does not assign the Data Center segment a share of next year's sales. The 97% figure is the third-quarter Data Center increase from a year earlier. The $8.5 billion figure is that segment's quarterly revenue, not company-wide revenue.