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AMD expects weakened demand throughout 2020

AMD expects weakened demand throughout 2020

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Though, it still has a big year ahead of it

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AMD expects weakened consumer demand in the second half of 2020 as a result of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. During an investor call discussing the company’s quarterly earnings, AMD CEO Dr. Lisa Su said that reduced supply chains and a downturn of retail in China were already issues during the first quarter. Despite that, AMD still expects its annual revenue to grow by 25 percent.

It’s already on its way to having a good year, as its Q1 2020 financial results show 40 percent revenue growth compared to this time in 2019. It attributes this big jump to its computing and graphics segments, including its Ryzen processors and Radeon graphics cards — both of which have gotten major updates recently.

AMD has a promising outlook for the rest of 2020, at least when it comes to its showcase of products. It beat Intel to the punch by being the first to make 7nm processors, which include its Ryzen U and H 4000-series processors based on Zen 2 architecture. Its Radeon RX 5000-series graphics cards currently undercut Nvidia’s RTX 20-series graphics cards in cost, with negligible differences in terms of performance in some cases. And, with their PCIe 4.0 support, they’re a little more future-proof on a technical level than Nvidia’s current GPU lineup. AMD’s GPUs also continue to get good support from Apple, both in its laptops and desktops, including the new high-end Mac Pro. Dr. Lisa Su says that its next-generation processors and graphics cards are still on-track for later in 2020.

Additionally, AMD has been working alongside Microsoft and Sony in developing both the processors and graphics chips for their forthcoming next-generation video game consoles, the Xbox Series X and PS5, both of which are still set to release during the 2020 holiday season. Those will likely be huge sellers, though the numbers may not be as large as expected since Sony recently shared it will limit its initial shipment of PS5 consoles.

Update April 29th, 12:15PM ET: This story and its headline have been updated to focus on AMD’s year-over-year results, rather than quarter-over-quarter results, to give a clearer sense of the company’s performance.