AMD keeps gaining even though some of Intel's chip flaws also affect its CPUs (AMD, INTC)

pulse

January 4, 2018 5:41 PM

AMD's chips do not face all the problems Intel is facing, but they are affected by some of the same issues.

A security flaw in central processing units has sent AMD shares soaring and Intel's plummeting.
AMD's chips do not have all the problems Intel is facing, but they are affected by some of the same issues.

AMD is up another 5.45% on Thursday as panic over a central processing unit security flaw sent investors out of Intel and into AMD.

Initially, AMD told users its chips were not subject to the same sort of attacks as Intel's chips, but the company has since updated its stance to say its chips are only affected by some of the announced hacks. Engineers at Google originally detected the flaw and wrote in a blog post Wednesday it could affect Intel, AMD, and ARM chips.

The flaw Google discovered has to do with how programs talk to a computer's hardware. Software patches have been released for many operating systems, but the updates could slow systems by as much as 30% according to some reports.

Intel's chips have been the main focus of the CPU flaws, and the company's shares have fallen as much as 9% since the news broke on Wednesday morning. AMD shares have risen 15.3% in the same time frame and maintained their gains despite the company saying its chips also contain the flaws to a degree.

Intel said future processors won't have the flaw, which is unlikely to affect future product launch timings. Credit Suisse released a note on Thursday suggesting people were making "mountains from molehills" of the whole issue. The firm didn't think that the flaws should materially affect the companies involved.

pulse