Broadcom shares rise as the company touts “massive” AI opportunities

Broadcom shares rise as the company touts “massive” AI opportunities

Broadcom shares (AVGO) rose more than 20% on Friday after the chipmaker touted its “big” opportunity in the artificial intelligence market in a quarterly earnings call the night before.

Broadcom CEO Hock Tan said the company expects its custom AI chips to generate between $60 billion and $90 billion in revenue over the next three years from its three existing hyperscaler customers, which the company named not named. Tan reiterated his belief that each of the three hyperscalers will deploy 1 million clusters of its custom AI chips called XPUs by 2025.

Broadcom also confirmed that it has acquired two additional hyperscaler customers that are “in advanced development of their own next-generation AI XPUs,” which could generate further revenue. Media reports citing anonymous sources have suggested that these new customers could be ChatGPT maker OpenAI and Apple (AAPL).

“We see our opportunity in AI over the next three years as enormous,” Tan said in the conference call with investors on Thursday evening.

Broadcom’s gain on Friday boosted the company’s earnings by about 98% this year, sending its stock price to an all-time high of $221 and pushing its market capitalization past $1 trillion.

According to The Information, Apple is reportedly working with Broadcom to develop an AI server chip. The tech giants’ move to make their own server chips is expected to cut costs and reduce their reliance on Nvidia’s (NVDA) GPUs (graphics processing units). OpenAI is reportedly making a similar move in collaboration with Broadcom, according to Reuters and Bloomberg.

Broadcom makes custom chips for data centers, consumer electronics such as smartphones and laptops, and electric vehicles. The company has expanded into enterprise software development through partnerships with Microsoft (MSFT) and Google (GOOG).

A smartphone with a Broadcom logo displayed. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/Archive photo
A smartphone with a Broadcom logo displayed. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/Archive photo · Reuters / Reuters

Still, there is concern that large tech companies may not be able to sustain their spending on AI infrastructure if they cannot meaningfully monetize the new technology. According to a recent Gallup poll cited by Bloomberg, OpenAI suffered losses of around $5 billion in 2024. And only 4% of U.S. workers actually use AI on a daily basis.

Broadcom’s opportunities in AI chips are not reflected in the other areas of its semiconductor business. Overall, fourth-quarter semiconductor sales rose 12% year-over-year to $8.2 billion. However, this obscured a divergence between its AI chips and non-AI chips. AI chip sales rose sharply by 150% to $3.7 billion, while non-AI semiconductor sales fell 23% to $4.5 billion.

“The reality for this company is that the AI ​​semiconductor business will quickly surpass the non-AI semiconductor business,” Tan said.

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