AMD Q3 shines as data center revenue nearly doubles

AMD's data center business continued to shine in the third quarter as the company handily topped expectations.

The company reported third quarter net income of $2.43 billion, or $1.46 a share, on revenue of $13.38 billion, up 45% from a year ago. Non-GAAP earnings were $2.09 a share.

Wall Street was expecting AMD to report third quarter non-GAAP earnings of $1.94 a share on revenue of $13.09 billion.

AMD CEO Lisa Su said data center sales doubled from a year ago. "Demand for our Instinct and EPYC products continued to strengthen, and we expect growth to accelerate further in the fourth quarter as we scale Helios and 'Venice' production," said Su.

Indeed, AMD's data center revenue was $8.5 billion, up 97% from a year ago. AMD EPYC processors and AMD Instinct MI450 Series GPUs drove sales.

Client and gaming revenue was $3.7 billion, down 8% from a year ago. PC unit revenue was up 7% from a year ago. Embedded revenue was $1.1 billion, up 29% from a year ago.

CFO Jean Hu said the fourth quarter will feature accelerating revenue and earnings growth. AMD projected fourth quarter revenue of $17 billion, give or take 3%. The midpoint of that guidance is growth of 66%.