AMD pitches open source as an edge against Nvidia

AMD is leaning on openness as a core part of its challenge to Nvidia in AI chips, arguing that its open-source ROCm software gives developers more freedom to use, download, and modify the tools needed to program its processors. CEO Lisa Su said on AMD’s earnings call that ROCm is at an inflection point, with open-source contributions up 10 times in the past year.

AMD executives Kirk Saban and Salil Raje said the strategy helps the company draw on contributions from a broad developer community while accelerating software improvements. Saban described outside developers as effectively contributing free development work, while Raje called open source a central pillar of AMD’s strategy and said the same approach will be applied in physical AI and robotics.

The push comes as demand for AI compute continues to reshape the chip market. AMD’s stock was down 9% in late trading on Tuesday after earnings, despite revenue of $11.5 billion beating analysts’ expectations. Capital expenditures nearly tripled to $808 million from the previous year. AMD’s stock is up about 193% in the past year, while Nvidia has gained roughly 20%.