# AMD vs. Nvidia: Is AMD Finally Closing the AI Gap? > Source: > Published: 2026-08-21 15:30:53+00:00 **AMD** ([NASDAQ: AMD](https://247wallst.com/companies/amd/) | [AMD Price Prediction](https://247wallst.com/companies/amd/price-prediction)) and **NVIDIA** ([NASDAQ: NVDA](https://247wallst.com/companies/nvda/)) both just delivered post-earnings reports that reframe the [AI hardware race](https://247wallst.com/investing/2026/07/15/amd-went-from-ai-afterthought-to-nvidia-equal-in-just-3-years-can-the-momentum-continue/). AMD posted record revenue of $11.54 billion with Data Center more than doubling. NVIDIA answered with an $82 billion quarter and Blackwell shipping into every major hyperscaler. The question is whether AMD is finally catching up, or whether Jensen Huang just widened the moat again. ## Helios Lands. Blackwell Scales. Two Different Zip Codes. [AMD’s quarter was carried by Data Center revenue of $6.72 billion](https://ir.amd.com/news-events/press-releases/detail/1295/amd-reports-second-quarter-2026-financial-results), up 107% year over year and now 58% of total revenue. EPYC server chips grew greater than 70% year over year, and Instinct more than doubled. Lisa Su called out Helios, the new rack combining EPYC Venice, MI450 GPUs and Pensando networking, saying customer pull is “very strong and tracking ahead of our initial forecasts.” Anthropic committed to up to two gigawatts of MI450 series GPUs in Helios, with the first gigawatt starting in 2027. [NVIDIA operates at a different altitude](https://nvidianews.nvidia.com/news/nvidia-announces-financial-results-for-first-quarter-fiscal-2027). Data center revenue hit $75 billion, up 92%, with networking alone nearly tripling year over year. Huang told investors the company sees $1 trillion in Blackwell and Rubin revenue from 2025 through calendar 2027, and that “we are growing share in inference very, very quickly.” Buybacks got an $80 billion refresh. The dividend jumped to 25 cents per share. Business Driver | AMD | NVIDIA | | Data Center Revenue | $6.72B (+107%) | $75B (+92%) | | Non-GAAP Gross Margin | 56% | 75% | | Next-Quarter Guide | ~$13B (+41%) | $91B (+/-2%) | ## Challenger Rack vs. Full-Stack Monopoly AMD is betting that a credible second source of [gigawatt-scale AI compute](https://247wallst.com/investing/2026/05/01/big-tech-is-making-empty-promises-on-500-gigawatts-of-data-centers-it-cant-deliver/) is worth many billions to hyperscalers who dislike [sole-vendor risk](https://247wallst.com/investing/2026/04/30/wall-street-analyst-warns-hyperscaler-custom-chips-pose-significant-risk-to-nvidias-dominance/). Rackham software now runs more than 3 million models out of the box, with open-source contributions up more than tenfold over the past year. That is real progress against CUDA, though not parity. NVIDIA’s pitch is [vertical integration](https://247wallst.com/investing/2026/05/21/google-reveals-plan-to-dominate-ai-copy-apple/). Vera Rubin production begins in Q3, and Huang says it can deliver up to 35x higher inference throughput than Blackwell. Standalone Vera CPUs open a claimed $200 billion TAM on top of GPUs. The competitive gap extends well beyond silicon into NVLink, Spectrum-X, InfiniBand and CUDA glued together. All that gigawatt-scale compute still has to be powered, cooled, and networked by somebody, which is the whole thesis behind our free report on [seven AI infrastructure suppliers that aren’t chipmakers](https://247wallst.com/pages/ai-power-seven-offer-d905ec99.html). ## What I Want to See in Q3 and Q4 I will be watching Helios yields and how quickly Anthropic’s first gigawatt actually turns into revenue. AMD guided Q3 to roughly $13 billion, and management expects Data Center to more than double year-over-year in 2027. You should also watch NVIDIA’s ability to defend gross margin at 75% while China compute stays excluded from guidance. ## How the Setup Favors Each Name On the fundamentals, [NVIDIA still screens as the higher-quality name](https://247wallst.com/investing/2026/08/19/this-stock-has-become-too-important-to-the-ai-revolution-to-ignore/). A P/E of 34 paired with 65.6% operating margins is rare at this scale, and Rubin looks like another generational lead. [AMD screens as the higher-beta way to play the theme](https://247wallst.com/investing/2026/08/20/prediction-amd-stock-will-hit-650-on-this-date/). Shares are already up 180.05% over the past year, and the stock trades at a forward P/E of 68, which prices in a lot of Helios success. If MI450 ramps cleanly through 2027, AMD has room to run. If yields slip or [China policy tightens further](https://247wallst.com/investing/2026/03/06/analyst-every-bureaucratic-delay-hands-ai-markets-directly-to-huawei/), the platform that “runs every frontier AI model” looks like the more defensive exposure. Reddit’s neutral, hesitant tone on AMD, with sentiment scores of 45, 47, 48, 48, and 50, tells me I am not alone in that caution. *Contact [email protected] for any questions or corrections.*