Bitcoin is having (another) moment... The price of the OG cryptocurrency rose from under $4K in March to over $13K this week (but fell to $10K Thursday). As the price surges, so does incentive to mine Bitcoin — New coins generated by people crunching numbers on high-powered, energy-devouring computers. That just gives Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) another something to smile about.
AMD stock has doubled over the past year... The computer chips it's become famous for are getting love from diverse places:
- Microsoft: The tech company is reportedly considering swapping out Intel chips for AMD ones in its next litter of Surface tablets.
- Video games: PlayStation 5 and the next Xbox are both contracted to use AMD chips.
- Bitcoin: Those miners want AMD in their Bitcoin-digging computers. If the price of Bitcoin stays up, it may boost sales of AMD processors from techies who want to turn newly-minted Bitcoin into cash.
AMD is the shovel to Bitcoin's gold... Like the gold rush spurred demand for literal shovels, the 2nd Bitcoin boom is hungry for AMD chips. Back in November when Bitcoin hype was hibernating, AMD unveiled a bunch of services for Bitcoin miners and blockchain developers. That bet could be paying off now.