AMD Stock Slips Premarket: Traders Shrug Off Fresh AI Chip Orders In Korea

• South Korean AI startup Upstage is in talks for a major purchase of AMD’s accelerators.
• AMD shares have been under pressure since last month, when its soft forecast triggered a selloff.
• Stocktwits sentiment for AMD has remained ‘bearish’ for two weeks.

Advanced Micro Devices declined 2% in the early premarket on Monday as reports of fresh orders failed to lift shares already weighed down by concerns over supply chain disruptions and potential business losses stemming from the U.S.-Iran conflict.

U.S. stock futures were down early Monday as traders weighed escalating Middle East tensions; U.S. President Donald Trump has threatened to attack Iran’s power infrastructure if the country does not reopen the Strait of Hormuz.

Meanwhile, South Korean AI startup Upstage is in advanced discussions to buy 10,000 MI355 AI accelerators from AMD, the tech firm’s CEO told Bloomberg News, adding that discussions kicked off when AMD CEO Lisa Su was in Seoul last week.

“We have a lot of Nvidia chips in Korea, but we want to diversify to other chips, including AMD’s,” Kim said in an interview. Upstage is a prominent startup for its advanced AI models, especially in document processing and LLMs, and backing from notable major investors, including Amazon Web Services.

It is also one of four firms competing in a state-backed race to select Korea’s best national AI foundation models. The tournament, dubbed the “AI Squid Game” in a nod to the popular Netflix survival drama, is part of the country’s ambition to become one of the world’s top AI powerhouses.

Although AMD shares have been depressed lately due to market volatility linked to the U.S.-Iran war, the U.S. chipmaker is gaining renewed attention after a major memory chip deal with Samsung.

AMD-Samsung Pact

Last week, AMD announced a supply agreement with South Korean chip and consumer electronics giant Samsung for high-demand, high-bandwidth memory components. Samsung will supply HBM4 as the primary supplier for AMD’s MI455X accelerators used in corporate data centers and DDR5 memory chips for AMD’s Helios system based on the MI455X.

The agreement, coming amidst widespread shortages and rising prices of memory chips, was seen as a positive development.

In early February, AMD forecast first-quarter sales lower than the revenue it closed in the fourth quarter of 2025, fanning concerns of softness in the business and triggering an over 17% fall in the stock. AMD shares have since traded in a narrow range.

Retail’s View On AMD

The view is gloomy among retail traders as well. On Stocktwits, sentiment for AMD has remained in the ‘bearish’ zone over the past two weeks. AMD shares currently trade near a six-month low, and some traders expect them to shoot up as war-related market pressures ease.

“$QQQ notice how the entire tech sector is oversold. Institutions will begin loading up on the big tech especially $NVDA and other AI stocks. $AMD $VRT  $AVGO Will rise due to the overselling that occurred last week,” a user said.

Another wrote: “$AMD is overdue for a 25% move higher.”

AMD shares are down 6% year-to-date.

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