AMD's High-Profile Moves: Asset Sales, New Partnerships, and Shareholder Benefits
It has been a dizzying time for AMD, with numerous high-profile moves taking center stage. From the sale of huge assets to ambitious new partnerships and increased shareholder benefits, here's what's in motion at the chip leader.
Sanmina Acquires ZT Systems' Data Center Business from AMD
In a major strategic shifting of gears, AMD has made it official to sell ZT Systems' data center infrastructure and manufacturing business to Sanmina. In a deal worth nearly $3 billion, the sale reflects a change of direction for AMD in this area of its business.
What are the financial nuts and bolts of the deal.
- Sanmina will pay AMD $2.25 billion in cash.
- Another premium of $300 million will also be shared, where $150 million is paid in cash and another $150 million in stock.
- There is even a potential sweetener for AMD: an additional payment of $450 million, contingent on the financials of the acquired ZT assets over the next three years.
Significantly, this deal positions Sanmina as a strategic manufacturing partner to AMD for its future-generation cloud rack and large-scale AI solutions. This comes after AMD acquired ZT Systems in March 2025 for $4.9 billion. Analysts provided various estimates, with the rough $3 billion sale value placed in the lower range of some predictions.
The companies expect to complete this deal by the end of 2025.
AMD Expands Share Buyback Program
Shareholders will be pleased to hear that AMD is also increasing its emphasis on repurchasing its shares. The firm has granted an additional $6 billion worth of authorization for share repurchases. Combined with the approximately $4 billion already approved (as of late March 2025), AMD's aggregate buyback capacity outstanding is an impressive $10 billion. This follows closely on the heels of AMD's repurchase during the first quarter of 2025 of $749 million of its shares.
A $10 Billion AI Vision with Saudi Arabia's HUMAIN
Looking into the future of AI, AMD forged a historical partnership with HUMAIN, the AI arm of Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund (PIF). The two are releasing a $10 billion project. The objective. To deploy an astonishing 500 megawatts of AI computing power in five years.
HUMAIN will lead the establishment of necessary data center infrastructure and energy demand management in Saudi Arabia. AMD will contribute its high-performance AI compute hardware and open-source ROCm™ software platform. The first product from this partnership, a "multi-exaflop capacity" data center, should be up and running in Saudi Arabia early in 2026.
These moves collectively paint the picture of an aggressive AMD, which is working hard to transform its business and investing heavily in growth initiatives like AI and rewarding its shareholders.
