AMD Beats Earnings & Revenue Estimates But Cash Flow Gutted By Net Loss In H1

01.08.2023 - 22:23 / wccftech.com

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Chip designer Advanced Micro Devices, Inc (AMD) reported its earnings results for Q2 2023 at the close of the market earlier today. AMD's revenue for the quarter remained flat sequentially but marked a $1.2 billion annual drop, indicating that the semiconductor sector's slowdown is far from over. Historically, AMD's second-quarter revenue has marked a sequential growth. Still, slower cloud spending and a weak personal computing environment continued to harm earnings results this time, even with inflation significantly dropping over its 2022 peak.

AMD also guided $5.7 billion in revenue for the current quarter ending in September, which fell short of analyst estimates of $5.82 billion. However, the firm's shares are up in aftermarket trading as it beat EPS and revenue estimates in an overall gloomy environment for chip firms after TSMC's second-quarter results that saw the world's largest chipmaker predict that the chip downturn will last longer than initially feared.

Despite an overall weak report, and one which was expected by Wall Street beforehand, AMD's sequential revenue trends seem to be in place in the second quarter despite the significantly different macroeconomic environment from a year ago. The latest quarter saw its Client computing segment, which accounts for sales of products to consumers, grow by 35% as the latest Ryzen 7000 Series chips started to fly off the shelves, and lower inflation provided a release valve to pent-up demand. In Q2 2023, the Client Computing segment brought $998 million in revenue, a hefty growth over Q1's $739 million but a massive drop over Q1 2022's $2.1 billion.

On the flip side, however, AMD's gaming and embedded segments' revenue fell sequentially and annually, contributing roughly $3 billion to the overall pie. Over the quarter, sales for both these segments dropped by more than 7%, but on a positive note, the Embedded segment was the only one whose revenue and operating income were up annually.

AMD's bread and butter data center segment retained the largest share of the revenue pie during its July quarter. However, revenue was down 11% annually, and operating income fell by a painful 69% as a broader lending environment made a mark on corporate spending. Higher interest rates tend to squeeze corporate budgets and reduce the money firms can spend on data centers and other infrastructure. AMD shared that lower sales of its EPYC processors contributed to the drop.

However, analysts believe data center spending will increase during 2023's second half and tilt toward artificial intelligence products. AMD's larger rival in the