TLDR
- AMD closed Wednesday at $552.90, up 7.32%, and traded at $561.30 pre-market Thursday.
- AMD and PsiQuantum expanded their partnership for utility-scale quantum computers.
- AMD plans an equity investment in PsiQuantum.
- Drug discovery is the first target, with early covalent inhibitor simulations reported.
- More details are due at SC26 in Chicago, Nov. 15 to 20.
AMD closed Wednesday at $552.90, a gain of 7.32%. Pre-market trading Thursday put the price at $561.30, up another 1.52%.
Advanced Micro Devices, Inc., AMD
Thursday’s headline was a bigger tie-up with PsiQuantum. The two companies expanded their partnership to co-design computing infrastructure for utility-scale quantum computers.
The plan also covers hybrid setups that mix quantum, high-performance and AI computing. AMD intends to make an equity investment in PsiQuantum, according to the press release.
What the deal covers
The pair already work together on AMD Versal FPGA technology. The new deal adds AMD Instinct GPUs, EPYC CPUs and the ROCm software stack.
All of it will be tied into PsiQuantum’s silicon photonics platform. PsiQuantum, founded in 2016 and based in Palo Alto, builds fault-tolerant quantum computers with a photonic approach.
That approach leans on semiconductor manufacturing. AMD CTO Mark Papermaster pointed to the company’s record of pairing compute technology with engineering partners.
The first target is drug discovery. That lines up with the U.S. Department of Energy’s Quantum Genesis Priority Applications.
PsiQuantum’s computational chemistry methods already run on AMD hardware. Researchers are tuning a machine-learning decoder called PRISM for real-time error correction.
The companies reported early results from simulations of covalent inhibitors. These molecules matter in oncology drug discovery.
PsiQuantum also plans to explore integrated computing tools for pharmaceutical research. Both firms may widen their work at the Illinois Quantum and Microelectronics Park in Chicago, where PsiQuantum is the anchor tenant.
AMD’s numbers heading into the news
AMD reported third-quarter results on Nov. 3. Earnings came in at $2.09 per share, ahead of the $1.95 analysts expected.
Revenue hit $13.38 billion against a $13.10 billion forecast. That is up 44.7% from a year ago.
The stock carries a market value of about $906.81 billion. Its 52-week range runs from $188.22 to $658.52.
Analysts rate the stock “Moderate Buy” with an average price target of $642.47. Citigroup lifted its target from $575 to $800 on Oct. 6.
Insiders sold 230,957 of the company’s stock last quarter, worth about $114.8 million. Insiders own 0.50% of the company.
Google also picked AMD’s fifth-generation EPYC processors for its TPU 8tx system. AMD and PsiQuantum plan to release more partnership details at SC26 in Chicago from Nov. 15 to 20.
