AMD CEO Lisa Su says chipmaker still dealing with a 'mixed' sales market
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Advanced Micro Devices (NASDAQ:AMD) Chief Executive Lisa Su on Tuesday sounded pretty much like a CEO of a tech company where business is doing fine, but definitely could be a lot better.
Speaking on a conference call, Su gave her thoughts on AMD's (AMD) first-quarter results, outlook for the chipmaker's second quarter, and some of its longer-term prospects in areas such as artificial intelligence. The tone was one of finding victories within what is still a difficult market for a tech sector that is still working through widespread supply chain and inventory issues among its customers.
"I'm pleased with our performance in the first quarter," Su said before adding that AMD (AMD) is still dealing with "a mixed demand environment" in which revenue growth is expected to be "flattish" during the rest of the first half of the year.
Along those lines, AMD (AMD) reported a first-quarter profit of 60 cents a share, excluding one-time items, on $5.4B revenue, which topped analysts expectations for a profit of 56 cents a share on sales of $5.31B.
During the same period a year ago, AMD (AMD) earned $1.13 a share, excluding one-time items, on $5.9B in revenue.
Meanwhile, in after-hours trading, AMD's (AMD) shares fell almost 7% as investors directed their immediate attention to the company's outlook. AMD (AMD) said it expects second-quarter revenue to be between $5B and $5.6B, which could end up noticeably below analysts' consensus estimates of $5.51B. 
Su said AMD (AMD) was still dealing with issues with its data center business, which Su described as being in a "mixed environment" as larger customers work through inventories. Data center sales in AMD's (AMD) first quarter totaled $1.3B, flat with a year ago. Gaming revenue of $1.8B made up the largest part of AMD's (AMD) first-quarter, but was down 9% from a year ago, and client revenue of $739M fell 65% from last year's first quarter. Embedded systems were the only area of growth for AMD (AMD), as such sales climbed 163% on a year-over-year basis, to $1.6B.
Su went on to say that AMD (AMD) expects growth to get back on track in the second half of the year, and that it is looking for AI to be one of the keys to its future market expansion.
"We are in the very early stages of the AI era," Su said. "This will require significant increases in computer performance. AMD is in a strong position for this opportunity."
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