Lisa Su, CEO of Advanced Micro Devices, and Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, testifiy during the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee hearing titled “Winning the AI Race: Strengthening U.S. Capabilities in Computing and Innovation,” in Hart building on Thursday, May 8, 2025.
Tom Williams | CQ-Roll Call, Inc. | Getty Images
Advanced Micro Devices reported quarter earnings on Tuesday that missed estimates. The stock slid about 4% in extended trading.
Here’s how the chipmaker did versus LSEG expectations for the quarter ended June:
Earnings per share: 48 cents adjusted versus 49 cents expected
Revenue: $7.69 billion versus $7.42 billion expected
For the current quarter, AMD expects sales of $8.7 billion, plus or minus $300 million, versus expectations of earnings of $8.3 billion.
AMD reported net income during its fiscal second quarter of $872 million, or 54 cents per share, increasing from $265 million, or 16 cents per share in the year-ago period. Nvidia’s overall sales rose 32% in the period from $5.84 billion a year earlier.
AMD is the second-biggest maker of graphics processing units (GPUs) for artificial intelligence behind Nvidia, which has the vast majority of the market. But big AI customers such as Meta and OpenAI are increasingly looking to AMD to provide an alternative to Nvidia’s pricey chips, especially for inference, or when AI models are deployed to the public.
During the quarter, AMD announced new AI chips called the MI400 that are expected to hit the market next year. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman committed to using AMD’s newest GPUs.
AMD is also grappling with chip export controls which have been placed on some of its AI chips because the U.S. government worries that powerful GPUs could be used by adversaries to surpass American capabilities or be used for military purposes.
The MI308 was previously barred for export to China in April, which the company said cost it $800 million in the June quarter. However, the company said in July that it expected shipments to resume after the Trump administration signaled that it would approve waivers. AMD said its outlook doesn’t include any revenue from its China-focused AI chip called the MI308 and its license applications are currently being reviewed by the Department of Commerce.
AMD’s adjusted gross margin during the quarter was 43%. The company said it would have been 54% if not for export control costs.
AMD’s main business, aside from GPUs, is making central processors, called CPUs, which compete with Intel to power more traditional servers.
Both are reported in the company’s data center segment, which had $3.2 billion in revenue, up 14% on an annual basis.
The other major segment for AMD is called Client and Gaming, which includes the company’s CPUs for laptops and desktops, and its GPUs for 3D gaming. That was up 69% on an annual basis to $3.6 billion. Client revenue by itself rose 57% to $2.5 billion, in line with the StreetAccount expectations of $2.56 billion, partially driven by strong demand for the company’s latest desktop CPUs, which it calls AMD Ryzen Zen 5.
Gaming revenue by itself was up 73% year-over-year to $1.1 billion, versus StreetAccount estimate of $784 million, with its growth due to increased demand for custom chips for game consoles and gaming GPUs, AMD said.
Attendees walk through an exposition hall at AWS re:Invent, a conference hosted by Amazon Web Services, in Las Vegas on Dec. 3, 2024.
Noah Berger | Getty Images
Amazon Web Services has agreed to provide U.S. federal agencies with up to $1 billion in discounts for cloud adoption, modernization and training through 2028, an agency overseeing government procurement announced Thursday.
The agreement is expected to speed up migration to the cloud, as well as adoption of artificial intelligence tools, the General Services Administration said.
“AWS’s partnership with GSA demonstrates a shared public-private commitment to enhancing America’s AI leadership,” the agency said in a release.
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Amazon‘s cloud boss Matt Garman hailed the agreement as a “significant milestone in the large-scale digital transformation of government services.”
The discounts aggregated across federal agencies include credits to use AWS’ cloud infrastructure, modernization programs and training services, as well as incentives for “direct partnership.”
The GSA announced a similar deal last month with cloud rival Oracle. The agency also reached an agreement with OpenAI on Wednesday that will give federal agencies access to ChatGPT for $1 through the next year.
Duolingo shares skyrocketed more than 30% after the language learning platform boosted its guidance due to strong user growth driven by artificial intelligence.
The mobile learning platform hiked its full-year guidance to between $1.01 billion and $1.02 billion, up from a prior range of $987 million to $996 million. Duolingo also lifted its bookings guidance to between $1.15 billion and $1.16 billion.
“We exceeded our own high expectations for bookings and revenue this quarter, and did it while expanding profitability,” said co-founder and CEO Luis von Ahn in a release.
Daily active users jumped 40% to nearly 48 million from about 34 million in the year-ago period.
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In an effort to expand its course offerings and boost users, Duolingo has implemented AI tools, including a video-call conversation practice feature for some paying subscribers. The company has also expanded beyond language learning with new course such as chess.
Duolingo also announced the acquisition of London-based music gaming startup NextBeat for an undisclosed amount as it looks to broaden its app products.
The company’s CEO said Duolingo is still in the early stages of its growth trajectory.
Revenues jumped about 41% year over year to $252 million and beat a Wall Street estimate of $241 million. Net income grew 84% from a year ago to about $45 million, or 91 cents per share.
For the third quarter, Duolingo projects revenues between $257 million and $261 million, surpassing the $253 million forecast from Wall Street analysts.
Ranking Member, U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) speaks during a Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee confirmation hearing on President Trump’s nominees to lead the National Economic Council, Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and Federal Housing Finance Agency, on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., U.S., February 27, 2025.
Annabelle Gordon | Reuters
Senate Democrats, including Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, are asking Google and its YouTube unit whether discussions with lawyers for President Donald Trump have included the possibility of settling a censorship suit in exchange for potentially favorable treatment from the administration.
In a letter sent Thursday to Google CEO Sundar Pichai and YouTube CEO Neal Mohan, the senators asked the executives about conversations with President Trump’s lawyers over an ongoing lawsuit that was filed by Trump more than four years ago, accusing the online video platform of unlawful censorship.
The lawsuit stemmed from the suspension of Trump’s accounts on social media sites after the January 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol. Trump filed suits against Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube later that year.
The senators highlighted reports of a court filing from May indicating that lawyers representing YouTube and President Trump were “engaged in productive discussions.” In that filing, the two parties asked the judge to delay a June court hearing until Sept. 8.
“We are concerned about the possibility that Google could settle the lawsuit against YouTube in a quid-pro-quo arrangement to avoid full accountability for violating federal competition, consumer protection, and labor laws, circumstances that could result in the company running afoul of federal bribery laws,” the letter states.
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Twitter (now X) and Facebook (now Meta) settled lawsuits with Trump this year, for about $10 million and $25 million, respectively. Trump’s 2021 suit claimed unconstitutional censorship after his accounts were suspended. A judge dismissed the Twitter case in 2022, but Trump appealed.
Under the 1996 Communications Decency Act, social media platforms are allowed to moderate content on their platforms and exempt themselves from liability for the material that users post.
The senators noted in their letter that Google is a defendant in multiple unfair labor and antitrust lawsuits brought by the U.S. government. It also pointed to the company’s donation of $1 million to President Trump’s inaugural fund, and noted that Pichai attended the president’s inauguration and dined with him at Mar-a-Lago.
Google currently faces the potential of being broken into parts, after the company lost an antitrust case last year brought by the Department of Justice related to Google’s dominance in search.
The company argued that any kind of breakup could result in the U.S. ceding tech competition to China. The judge is expected to rule on the penalties this month.
Google also has several open cases from the National Labor Relations Board, alleging unfair labor practices, the senators said.
“The company has substantial interests in almost every aspect of the federal government, from tax policy to energy and environmental policy, and much more,” they wrote. “Google stands to benefit from how the federal government proceeds in these matters, and Google may settle this lawsuit in the hopes of securing outcomes favorable to the company.”
Despite calls for answers, Democratic senators have limited ability to force action as Republicans control the White House and both houses of Congress.