F.L. Putnam Strategist Recommends Investing in This Global Chipmaker Instead of Nvidia Amid Rising AI Competition
Investment Strategy: Ellen Hazen from F.L. Putnam Investment Management suggests that investors can benefit from the AI rally by focusing on Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC), which has a strong position in the semiconductor market and is less vulnerable to debt financing issues.
Market Outlook: Hazen acknowledges the potential for a bubble in AI investments but believes it won't reach the scale of past tech bubbles, citing strong earnings growth as a stabilizing factor for tech valuations.
TSMC's Performance: TSMC has seen significant growth, with a 52% increase in stock value this year, driven by high demand for AI and high-performance computing, which accounted for 57% of its revenue in the third quarter.
Nvidia's Challenges: While Hazen remains optimistic about Nvidia, she expresses caution regarding its future sales in China, highlighting uncertainties about demand and the impact of geopolitical factors on its revenue growth.
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- Infrastructure Investment: Meta has signed a three-year deal with AWS to deploy hundreds of thousands of Graviton chips, aiming to enhance AI performance with an expected 60% better energy efficiency than traditional systems, showcasing Meta's strategic commitment to AI.
- Workforce Adjustment: Despite the massive infrastructure investment, Meta announced a 10% workforce reduction, indicating a shift in capital allocation from human resources to high-performance silicon, reflecting the company's focus on future technology demands.
- Intensifying Market Competition: This move by Meta comes as competitors like Alphabet and Microsoft accelerate their internal hardware development, highlighting the urgency for Meta to secure computing capacity, which could reshape the industry landscape.
- CPU Renaissance: Intel has noted that central processors are re-emerging as the foundation for AI, and Meta's choice of Graviton chips over specialized accelerators indicates confidence in general-purpose processors, potentially driving growth across the semiconductor sector.
- Surge in Market Demand: Intel's latest earnings report reveals a significant increase in demand for central processing units (CPUs), leading to a more than 12% surge in AMD's stock on Friday, reflecting the urgent market need for AI capability development and indicating a revival of the CPU market as a foundation of the AI era.
- Analyst Rating Upgrades: D.A. Davidson analyst Gil Luria upgraded AMD from neutral to buy and raised revenue and gross margin expectations for 2026, increasing the price target to $375, which implies a 22% upside from Thursday's close, demonstrating confidence in AMD's future growth potential.
- Optimistic Intel Guidance: Intel's stronger-than-expected guidance for Q2 anticipates double-digit growth in server CPU shipments by 2026, a significant increase from previous expectations of only slight growth six months ago, further fueling market optimism for CPU manufacturers.
- Changing Competitive Landscape: Analysts generally believe that AMD's position in the market will strengthen with the growth of AI infrastructure demand, although Barclays' Tom O'Malley cautioned that Intel may lose market share to AMD, highlighting the intensifying competition within the industry.
- Structural Demand Increase: DA Davidson noted that Intel's Q1 earnings beat indicates a structural increase in demand for central processing units (CPUs), highlighting their essential role in the AI era, which could present significant market opportunities for AMD.
- AMD Price Target Upgrade: DA Davidson raised AMD's price target by 70% from $220 to $375 and upgraded its rating from 'Neutral' to 'Buy', reflecting strong confidence in AMD's future performance.
- Positive Market Reaction: AMD shares surged nearly 14% in Friday's opening trade, on track for its best single-day gains in over six months, indicating optimistic investor sentiment towards AMD's prospects.
- Analyst Expectations: Wall Street expects AMD to report earnings per share (EPS) of $1.28 in Q1, a 33% increase from $0.96 in the same quarter last year, signaling strong growth expectations for AMD.
- Tech Stock Surge: Intel shares soared 25% this morning under CEO Lip Bu Tan's leadership, demonstrating a robust recovery over the past 13 months, which is likely to enhance investor confidence and attract further investments.
- Market Dynamics: With oil prices and bond yields declining, optimism surrounding potential peace talks between the U.S. and Iran has emerged, while President Trump announced an extension of the ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon, contributing to a positive market sentiment that may drive stock prices higher.
- Procter & Gamble's Strong Performance: Procter & Gamble reported better-than-expected quarterly earnings and revenue, with volume growth for the first time in a year, particularly in beauty products, leading to a more than 3% increase in stock price, indicating a recovery in consumer demand and the effectiveness of the company's strategic initiatives.
- Analyst Rating Adjustments: Barclays cut Honeywell's price target from $255 to $243, citing the need for improvement in its aerospace division to regain investor trust, while Dover's price target was raised to $230 due to strong Q1 results, reflecting market confidence in its future growth prospects.

- Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) Performance: AMD's stock has increased by 12.4%, indicating strong market performance and investor confidence.
- Arm Holdings Growth: Arm Holdings has seen a rise of 10.2% in its stock value, reflecting positive developments in the company.
- Qualcomm's Stock Increase: Qualcomm's shares have also risen by 10%, showcasing a favorable trend in the semiconductor industry.
- Overall Market Trends: The increases in stock prices for these companies suggest a robust performance in the tech sector, particularly in microdevices and semiconductors.
- Rating Upgrade: D.A. Davidson upgraded AMD from Neutral to Buy and raised its price target from $220 to $375, reflecting a structural increase in CPU demand driven by agentic AI, indicating strong growth potential for the company.
- Stock Reaction: Following this announcement, AMD's shares rose over 10% in premarket trading, signaling market optimism about its future performance, especially ahead of its earnings report due on May 5.
- Market Outlook: Analyst Gil Luria noted that while CPUs may become a bottleneck, Intel's strong results suggest that AMD's role in the data center buildout will significantly enhance, indicating substantial growth opportunities for AMD's CPU lineup.
- Pricing Strategy: Luria believes AMD is well-positioned to raise prices significantly across its portfolio to support and expand margins, as demand for server CPUs is expected to outpace supply, further solidifying its market position.










