INTC - Advanced Micro Devices leads chip gains as Intel looks to Italy for help

Advanced Micro Devices ( NASDAQ: AMD ) was the top gaining stock in the semiconductor industry on Thursday, as analysts noted that its recent results, when coupled with weakness from Intel ( NASDAQ: INTC ), are likely to play out in AMD's favor.

Baird analyst Tristan Gerra, who recently downgraded Intel ( INTC ) after the company's disappointing second-quarter, noted that AMD ( AMD ) is likely to see further gains in the server market due to product delays at the Pat Gelsinger-led Intel ( INTC ).

"Intel's further push out of Sapphire Rapids, which is rapidly becoming a stale product before even launching, likely significantly accelerates server customer migration to AMD in 2023 in our view, and we expect meaningful market share gains as a result," Gerra wrote in a note to clients.

Gerra added that AMD's ( AMD ) fundamentals "continue to strengthen" and even though it is not immune to a slowdown in the PC market and consumer GPUs, is well positioned.

AMD ( AMD ) shares gained nearly 6% to $103.83 in mid-day trading, while competitor Nvidia ( NVDA ) tacked on nearly 1.5% to $191.64.

Advanced Micro Devices ( AMD ) slipped on Wednesday as concerns over third-quarter guidance outweighed the company's strong second-quarter results.

Intel ( INTC ) fell more than 1.5% to $36.63 even as the the company is reportedly close to a $5B deal with the Italian government to build a packaging and assembly plant in the country.

The Italian government could fund as much as 40% of Intel's ( INTC ) investment in the country, Reuters reported, with the figure rising from $5B over time.

The plant is part of the semiconductor giant's plan to invest $88B in Europe over the next decade and both parties hope to have a deal in place by the end of August.

Other semiconductor stocks were largely higher on Thursday, including modest gains for Broadcom ( AVGO ), Micron Technology ( MU ), Qualcomm ( QCOM ) and Texas Instruments ( TXN ).

ON Semiconductor ( ON ), NXP Semiconductor ( NXPI ) and Microchip ( MCHP ) saw fractional losses.

Several Wall Street analysts praised AMD ( AMD ) after the company's quarterly results, including Morgan Stanley analyst Joseph Moore, who said the figures and outlook were "impressive," citing the current environment .

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