Amazon made headlines in May 2025 when its latest 13F filing revealed a new $84.5 million position in semiconductor giant Advanced Micro Devices (NASDAQ: AMD). This marks the first time Amazon has reported holding AMD stock in its portfolio, signaling a potential strategic alignment between the two tech powerhouses.

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Amazon's New Stake in AMD

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According to Amazon’s Q1 2025 13F filing, the company purchased 822,234 shares of AMD, valued at $84.5 million as of March 31. This investment came during a period when AMD’s stock had dropped roughly 6% year-to-date—underperforming the broader semiconductor sector, which was down less than 1%.
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Amazon’s portfolio held nine equity positions during the quarter, with AMD being the only new addition. The total value of Amazon’s equity holdings fell from $2.70 billion in Q4 2024 to $2.42 billion in Q1 2025.

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The Timing: Buybacks and a $10 Billion AI Partnership

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One week after Amazon’s position was disclosed, AMD announced a $6 billion stock buyback program on May 14, raising its total authorized repurchase capacity to $10 billion. The move sent a strong message to investors, signaling confidence in the company’s long-term cash flow generation despite a recent dip in free cash flow, which fell to $727 million in Q1—down 33% year over year.
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Crucially, the buyback news followed AMD’s announcement of a $10 billion artificial intelligence collaboration with Humain—a Saudi-backed AI firm building Arabic large language models and next-gen data centers. This partnership is set to expand AMD’s AI footprint in the Middle East, where demand for AI infrastructure is rapidly rising.

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Strategic Implications

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The investment could be more than a financial move. Amazon has been aggressively expanding its AI capabilities, and AMD’s MI300X AI accelerators are key alternatives to NVIDIA’s dominant chips. The collaboration between Amazon Web Services (AWS) and AMD has been deepening, with AWS already deploying AMD EPYC processors for various workloads.
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By taking an equity stake in AMD, Amazon may be securing access to critical chip supply, aligning more closely with AMD’s roadmap, or simply betting on its role in powering global AI infrastructure.

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Key Takeaways

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• Amazon purchased 822,234 shares of AMD in Q1 2025, valued at $84.5 million.
• AMD launched a $6 billion stock buyback program on May 14.
• AMD also announced a $10 billion AI collaboration with Saudi-backed Humain.
• AMD shares were trading around 40% below their 52-week high at the time of filing.
• Amazon’s AMD stake was the only new position in its Q1 portfolio.

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As AI infrastructure becomes the battleground for cloud dominance, Amazon’s new investment in AMD may be a calculated step toward securing the chips—and partnerships—necessary to lead the next era of AI development.

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