Episode summary
AMD Says Oracle Is Pledging Widespread Use of New AI Chips | Bloomberg Intelligence
Bloomberg Intelligence
· · 25 min · Hosts: Paul Sweeney, Scarlet Fu · Guests: Anurag Rana, Steve Man, George Ferguson, Jennifer Bartashus
Summary
AMD’s agreement to supply Oracle with 50,000 forthcoming MI450 chips starting in the third quarter of 2026 was framed as another sign that cloud and AI buyers are widening their supplier base beyond Nvidia. The analyst said Oracle needs more chips and data-center capacity to turn a large backlog into revenue, and that the vagueness of recent AI deals reflects uncertainty about workloads, pricing, and how much hardware customers will ultimately need. The same segment argued that Salesforce’s expanded partnership with OpenAI could matter more over time because it gives enterprise users a direct way to connect ChatGPT to Salesforce data and workflows.
The auto discussion centered on General Motors taking $1.6 billion in charges as it retrenches from EV plans after US policy support weakened. The analyst said GM is reacting quickly to changing incentives, and suggested Ford’s earlier pullback may now look prescient. He still expects EV demand to exist, but thinks the US market will take longer to scale without subsidies, easier charging access, or stronger policy support.
On aerospace, Boeing’s delivery recovery was described as a sign that factory throughput is improving, while Airbus is still bumping into engine supply issues. The episode also noted Kellanova’s higher-protein Pop-Tarts and broader packaged-food efforts to use protein and fiber claims to meet consumer demand and offset tariff pressure.
Key takeaways
- The analyst said Oracle’s planned use of 50,000 AMD MI450 chips shows buyers are using AMD as a real alternative to Nvidia for some AI workloads.
- The analyst said vague AI partnership disclosures mainly reflect uncertainty about chip counts, workloads, and future pricing.
- The analyst said Salesforce’s OpenAI integration matters because it could keep enterprise software vendors from being displaced by AI platforms.
- GM’s $1.6 billion charge was presented as a rapid response to weaker US EV policy support and softer demand.
- Boeing’s improving deliveries suggest factory throughput is recovering, while Airbus remains constrained by engine supply issues.
- Kellanova’s higher-protein Pop-Tarts reflect a broader packaged-food push to market incremental health benefits and capture demand from GLP-1 users.
Notable quotes
“Oracle will deploy a large batch of AMD's forthcoming MI450 chips next year”
“the AMD chip seems to be doing at par at what Nvidia chips are for this particular case”
“this is actually a far bigger news and has more ramifications in the long run”
“General Motors today uh incurring a $1.6 6 billion in charges related to pairing back electric vehicle productions”
“Boeing is converging I think on Airbus as far as delivery numbers”
How the episode opens
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Oracle will deploy a large batch of AMD's forthcoming MI450 chips next year. It's kind of like our AI story of the day. It seems like every day we've got one of these stories of these tech companies doing business with one another, maybe even involving some investments in each other.
Honorag Rana, uh, it's his job to keep it all straight here. He's a technology analyst at Bloomberg Intelligence. Honor, if you're Oracle, if you're AMD, is this just business as usual?
Why or is this something new and unusual? The slight unusual part is that the AMD chip seems to be doing at par at what Nvidia chips are for this particular case. Now I do not know what kind of workloads Oracle will put on it.
So you really can't do an applesto apples comparison. But the the story at this point is Oracle has a massive backlog of orders and it needs to invest money to get them converted into revenue. They need to open more data centers or rent out more data centers.
They need to buy more chips, buy more hardware, and combine all that together, and eventually then they're going to get paid for all that stuff. So, they're going anywhere they can find chips right now. And, you know, it seems that AMD is their next stop.
So, there are a couple of threads to pull on there. It feels like AMD is increasingly uh the number one alternative to Nvidia's chips. We can talk about that in a little bit, but what struck me is that there's no dollar amount disclosed in this deal or partnership or promise.
From the episode’s captions: roughly the first two minutes, lightly cleaned. Keep watching on YouTube →
Topics
- ai chips adoption
- ev demand policy charges
- boeing delivery rebound
- retail higher-protein snacks
- semiconductor industry capex
Companies and tickers mentioned
- AMD
- ORCL
- GM
- BA
- PEP
- Advanced Micro Devices
- Oracle
- General Motors
- Boeing
- Kellanova
- PepsiCo
Watch the episode
Summary, takeaways and quote selection by Octagon. Quotes are short excerpts; the full conversation is in the episode.
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