AMD finally reports a profit thanks to Ryzen, but share prices still nosedive

The strong debut of the Ryzen CPU range has helped AMD post one of its strongest financial performances in some time.

Revenues climbed by 26 per cent in its last reported quarter to $1.64bn, while net income hit $71m – compared to a $400+m loss posted the year before. The company reckons that Ryzen accounted for as much as 50 per cent of all CPU sales at some online retailers.

Despite some initial wobbles and its arguably slightly sub-par gaming performance, the Ryzen chip has been a huge success, allowing AMD to properly rival Intel for the first time in years – primarily because it gives gamers a viable alternative at a lower cost.

"Strong customer adoption of our new high-performance products drove significant revenue growth and improved financial results from a year ago,” chief exec Lisa Su said. "Our third quarter new product introductions and financial execution mark another important milestone as we establish AMD as a premier growth company in the technology industry."

However, despite these successes, AMD has forecast a 15 per cent revenue decline for its next quarter. It blames a cooling of the bitcoin frenzy, which has routinely seen AMD GPUs sold out at retail.

It was this news, seemingly, that spoke loudest to investors, and AMD stock has since the announcement plummeted by nearly 13.5 per cent.

As part of its financial filing, AMD also noted that it intends to skip 12nm and 10nm fabrication in all bar a small handful of products. Instead, it’s jumping straight to 7nm. Smaller chips mean better efficiency and faster performance, and less heat.