Raymond James upgrades AMD to Strong Buy with $641 price target on AI datacenter momentum

Raymond James just handed AMD one of its most aggressive price targets on Wall Street, upgrading the chipmaker to Strong Buy from Outperform and setting a $641 target. That’s up from $565, and it reflects a thesis that AMD’s AI and datacenter business is entering a fundamentally different growth phase. The upgrade, issued on August 25, 2026, was led by senior semiconductor analyst Srini Pajjuri, who has developed what the firm calls an “AI Factory” framework to model the accelerating demand for server CPUs. The core argument: AI workloads are creating an entirely new category of CPU demand that sits on top of, rather than replacing, conventional datacenter needs. The numbers backing the bull case AMD’s Q2 2026 earnings gave Pajjuri plenty of ammunition. Data Center revenue surged 107% year-over-year, blowing past analyst expectations and confirming that the company’s server CPU lineup is winning share in real time. Raymond James projects a 44% compound annual growth rate for AMD’s relevant revenue, with the firm modeling a path to $201 billion by calendar year 2030. For context, this upgrade marks a dramatic escalation in Raymond James’s own conviction. The firm initiated coverage ...