AMD Jumps 12% as Epyc Chips Win a Spot Inside Google's Secure TPU 8tx and Oppenheimer Upgrades

Advanced Micro Devices ($AMD) said its fifth-generation Epyc server processors will power Google ($GOOGL) Cloud's TPU 8tx systems, the first Tensor Processing Unit system with hardware-enforced confidential computing. AMD said Epyc CPUs will help protect sensitive AI models and data on the platform. The shares rose 12.65% to $505.83 as of 2:25 p.m. ET Monday, helped by an Oppenheimer upgrade to Outperform with a $600 price target.

What AMD announced

How the protection works

• Verification first. Before an accelerator gets direct access to protected memory, its identity and security configuration are verified.
• Encrypted end to end. Customer prompts, model weights and intermediate data stay encrypted in CPU memory and in transit between the host and accelerators, with hardware isolation while the accelerator runs.
• Availability caveat. AMD noted that Infinity Guard security features vary by Epyc generation and series, and that device makers or cloud providers must enable them.
• Wider footprint. AMD said Epyc is the host CPU of choice for more than 10 leading hyperscalers and frontier AI labs, supporting systems built with AMD Instinct GPUs, Nvidia GPUs and custom AI accelerators. Google Cloud already uses AMD SEV in services such as Confidential VMs and Confidential GKE.

What the companies said

Dan McNamara, AMD senior vice president and general manager of compute and enterprise AI, said advanced AI systems need a CPU foundation that can match the accelerators they host, pointing to Epyc's performance, memory bandwidth and I/O, and years of engineering work with cloud providers. Mark Lohmeyer, vice president and general manager of AI and computing infrastructure at Google Cloud, said enterprises moving AI agents into production need assurance that their data and intellectual property stay private, even from the infrastructure provider. He said pairing Epyc with eighth-generation TPUs brings hardware-enforced confidential computing to cloud TPUs for the first time.

The Oppenheimer upgrade

Oppenheimer upgraded AMD to Outperform from Perform on Nov. 9 with a $600 price target, about 19% above Monday afternoon's price. GuruFocus reported that the firm cited strong growth in data center and server CPU revenue and expects revenue to rise about 80% next year despite supply constraints. Seeking Alpha said the firm pointed to accelerating sales despite those constraints. AMD reported third-quarter revenue of $13.4B on Nov. 3.

Shares

Prices are as of 2:25 p.m. ET Monday, from Google Finance. AMD closed Friday at $449.04. Its 52-week high is $649.42, set in October, so the shares are about 22% below that level. StockStory noted the Nasdaq rose more than 2% in Monday morning trading as buyers returned after last week's selloff.

How it connects to Google's TPU push

Bloomberg reported Monday that Google is adding the TPU 8tx and a dual-chip TPU 8i Max, both expected in 2027, and that the 8tx pairs with AMD processors for chip-level encryption. AMD's announcement confirms the CPU side of that pairing and names the Epyc generation. Bloomberg Intelligence projects annual TPU-related sales above $135B by 2028, up from about $12B in 2026, a forecast that excludes TPU usage through Google Cloud. AMD has not disclosed how many Epyc processors the TPU 8tx program will use or what they are worth, and the release gives no financial terms.

What to watch

• Deal size. Whether AMD or Google gives volumes or revenue figures for the TPU 8tx hosts.
• Supply. Whether the supply constraints that Oppenheimer flagged limit how fast AMD can grow.
• Customer uptake. Whether regulated industries and government agencies adopt confidential TPU computing once TPU 8tx systems become available.
• Competition. How Nvidia responds as Google widens its TPU lineup.
• Related coverage. See our Google TPU report, the Nvidia investigation story and the Anthropic IPO valuation report.

Sources: AMD's Nov. 9 press release, with reporting from GuruFocus, Seeking Alpha and Bloomberg. Share prices are from Google Finance. This article is informational only and is not investment advice.