Cerebras Systems CBRS and Advanced Micro Devices AMD are beneficiaries of the AI infrastructure boom. Cerebras develops proprietary AI processors and complete AI computing systems, while AMD is the much larger, profitable, diversified full-stack compute supplier. So, Cerebras or AMD, which has an edge now?

The Case for CBRS Stock

Cerebras is a high-growth, specialized AI-compute company focused on wafer-scale processors and ultra-fast inference. The company's differentiated wafer-scale architecture delivers inference speeds more than an order of magnitude faster than conventional GPUs for certain workloads. CBRS' systems operate on TSMC's 5-nanometer process and do not require High-Bandwidth Memory (HBM), CoWoS packaging or 3 nm manufacturing capacity — areas that have been suffering from significant supply chain issues. Partnerships with OpenAI and Amazon Web Services (AWS) further validate the company's technology and expand its long-term growth opportunity. Second-quarter 2026 core revenues jumped 103% year over year to $209.9 million, while core cloud and other services revenues surged 287% to $127.7 million. Cerebras has secured more than 600 MW of data-center capacity for delivery through the end of 2027 and expects manufacturing capacity to increase more than 10-fold in 2026. The company had $25.4 billion of Remaining Performance Obligations (RPOs) at the end of the second quarter of 2026. CBRS expects core revenues to more than triple in 2027, providing significant long-term growth visibility. Cerebras' partnerships with OpenAI and AWS are important competitive endorsements. The company's OpenAI agreement covers 750 megawatts of inference capacity and is valued at more than $20 billion over several years. The AWS partnership could broaden access to enterprise customers by deploying Cerebras systems within AWS data centers. Cerebras is expanding impressively but remains more concentrated in terms of clientele. Apart from OpenAI and AWS, the company's customer set includes Figma, Cognition, Lovable, Block, AlphaSense, GSK and CrowdStrike. Cerebras also said it signed six deals worth more than $30 million each in the second quarter of 2026. However, the company is not yet profitable and is expected to suffer from higher spending. In the second quarter of 2026, core gross margin improved to 41%, up 940 basis points year over year but contracted 590 bps sequentially. Core operating margin remained negative 16%, highlighting that CBRS is still investing heavily ahead of its expected growth. For the third quarter of 2026, operating margin is expected between negative 25% and negative 23%, while the 2026 range is negative 19% to negative 17%.

The Case for AMD Stock

AMD boasts a stronger financial base and a much broader AI-compute portfolio. Second-quarter 2026 revenues surged 50% year over year to $11.5 billion, while Data Center revenues more than doubled to $6.7 billion and represented 58% of total revenues. Non-GAAP gross margin reached 56%, operating income increased to $3.1 billion, and operating margin expanded to 27%, showing that rising AI demand is already translating into meaningful earnings growth. The company's AI strategy spans Instinct GPUs, EPYC CPUs, Pensando networking, Helios rack-scale systems and ROCm software. AMD is also benefiting from large-scale engagements with OpenAI, Meta, Anthropic and Microsoft. Anthropic plans to deploy up to 2 gigawatts of MI450-series GPUs in Helios systems, while Microsoft intends to deploy Helios at scale on Azure. AMD expects Data Center revenues to more than double year over year in 2027, supported by accelerating Instinct and EPYC adoption. The company also expects server CPU revenues to grow more than 80% in the second half of 2026 and more than 70% for 2027. AMD also benefits from diversification beyond AI accelerators, including client computing, gaming and embedded products, reducing dependence on any single workload or customer. Its collaboration with Cerebras further expands its inference opportunity, with AMD Helios systems being combined with Cerebras' wafer-scale technology for disaggregated inference. However, AMD is suffering from near-term risks that include weak Client and Gaming business and late fourth-quarter and 2027 revenue ramp from AMD's biggest AI catalysts, Helios rack-scale systems and MI450 deployments. Stiff competition from the likes of NVIDIA, Cerebras, Broadcom and Intel remains a headwind.

AMD's Earnings Estimate Revisions Go North, CBRS Loss Improves

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for AMD's 2026 earnings is pegged at $7.49 per share, up 2.6% over the past 30 days, indicating a 79.62% increase over 2025's reported figure.

AMD- Consensus Estimate Trend

The consensus mark for Cerebras' 2026 loss has improved from 89 cents per share to 52 cents per share over the past 30 days.

CBRS - Consensus Estimate Trend

AMD and CBRS' Performance, Valuation Details

AMD shares have outperformed Cerebras in the past three months. While AMD shares have dropped 7.3%, CBRS has declined 24.9%.

AMD vs. CBRS Stock Performance

Both AMD and Cerebras are overvalued, as suggested by the Value Score of F and D, respectively. Moreover, Wall Street's consensus price target implies roughly 57.02% upside from current levels for Cerebras, while for AMD the expectation is 30.12%.

CBRS Consensus Price Target

AMD Consensus Price Target

Conclusion

Both Cerebras and AMD are well-positioned to benefit from accelerating AI infrastructure spending, but CBRS appears to have an edge at current levels. AMD offers greater scale, profitability, diversification and a broader AI ecosystem. However, Cerebras offers a significantly faster growth trajectory, with core revenues expected to more than triple in 2027, supported by $25.4 billion of RPOs, expanding data-center capacity and strong partnerships with OpenAI and AWS. Cerebras also benefits from its differentiated wafer-scale architecture and lower exposure to constrained HBM, CoWoS and advanced-node capacity. Although near-term losses and customer concentration remain risks, improving loss estimates and substantial expected margin expansion strengthen the longer-term outlook. Therefore, investors willing to tolerate higher execution and profitability risks in exchange for greater growth potential may find CBRS the more compelling pick between the two stocks right now. Cerebras currently carries a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy) while AMD has a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). You can see the complete list of today's Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

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