AMD Soars on AI Demand, Corning gets $500M from Nvidia - The Rundown

Podcast Summary: The Rundown – May 6, 2026
Episode Title: AMD Soars on AI Demand, Corning gets $500M from Nvidia
Host: Zaid Admani
Theme: Fast-paced daily market update with a focus on major earnings, sector movements, breakout corporate news, and new competitive threats in logistics.

Episode Overview

This episode offers a swift yet deep dive into the day’s pivotal stock market stories. Zaid Admani dissects strong earnings reports from AMD, Disney, and Uber while examining the underlying force of AI demand fueling the semiconductor sector. He covers a major strategic investment from Nvidia into Corning, the struggles of Lucid Motors, and concludes with Amazon’s disruptive foray into logistics, potentially shaking up the shipping industry.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Market Snapshot & Major Sector Winners

S&P 500 up 0.8%, Nasdaq up 1%, marking new record highs across all sectors.
(00:30) “Stocks were back to record highs on Tuesday. The S&P 500 was up 0.8%. The Nasdaq jumped 1%... all 11 sectors finishing in the green.”
Chip stocks outperformed, with Intel surging 13% on rumors of Apple partnership for US chip manufacturing. This rally elevated peers like Sandisk, Micron, Qualcomm by over 10%.
The SOXX semiconductor index soared 54% since end of March—the strongest run since the dot com era.
Notable context: “That also kind of makes me nervous about what’s going to happen to these chip stocks now.” (02:02)

2. Geopolitical Relief

Iran-US tensions eased, peace talks accelerate.
Oil prices dropped (~10%), Brent crude below $100/barrel, WTI under $90.
“...if a peace deal with Iran gets done, that could be the cherry on top.” (02:52)

3. AMD Earnings: AI Demand Drives Historic Results

Q1 Revenue up 38% YoY to $10.3B; net income nearly doubled to $1.4B.
Data Center and AI chips unit up 57% to $5.8B—a division now eclipsing AMD’s entire company revenue from three years ago.
Q2 revenue guidance: $11.2B (vs. $10.5B expectation).
“Similar to Nvidia, AMD has now graduated from a company that makes chips for gaming PCs to being a full blown AI infrastructure company.” (04:03)
AI data center boom: Microsoft, Google, Meta, Amazon expected to spend $700B+ on AI CapEx, catalyzing AMD’s growth.
OpenAI and Meta have adopted AMD's Helios AI system, directly challenging Nvidia.
CEO Lisa Su forecasts server CPU growth >70% for the quarter and revised long-term CPU data center growth from 18% to 35% annually, projecting a $120B market by 2030.
Stock reaction: +15% pre-market, +66% YTD, tripled over 12 months.
Quote: “AMD is firing on all cylinders right now and the market is starting to respect AMD as a legitimate alternative to Nvidia.” (05:31)

4. Disney Delivers Across All Units

New CEO Josh D’Amaro’s first earnings call: all three divisions (entertainment, experiences, sports) beat profit estimates.
Streaming (Disney+ and Hulu) profits up 88% YoY, reaching $582M and double-digit margins for the first time.
Movie studio successes: three films grossed $3.7B globally.
Parks & Experiences revenue +7% to $9.5B; domestic attendance down 1% (blamed on global unrest).
Vision outlined: Disney+ as a “super app” for tickets, shopping, and games.
“Streaming is finally profitable, parks are holding up, movies are working again, and the new CEO is trying to convince Wall Street that Disney can grow after what has bas a lost decade for the stock.” (07:26)
Stock up 6% on earnings.

5. Uber’s Broad-Based Growth

Q1 Revenue up 14% thanks to 20% more trips and 34% surge in Delivery (fastest segment).
Gross bookings up 25% to $53.7B—the best pace since 2022.
Delivery now outpacing rideshare growth; rideshare up only 5%.
Near-term guidance above expectations lifts stock 6%.
“Rideshare remains Uber’s largest business, but it hasn’t outpaced the delivery business since Q4 of 2024.” (09:10)

6. Corning: From Smartphone Glass to Backbone of AI

Nvidia invests $500M (up to $2.7B possible) to boost Corning’s fiber optic cable production by 10x via new US facilities.
Corning’s cables are “the backbone of AI data centers” enabling ultra-fast chip connectivity.
Separate $6B Meta contract added earlier in the year.
Shares up 18% on this news, +260% YoY.
“Most people know Corning as the company that makes the glass on your iPhone. Well, they just got a $500 million investment from Nvidia...” (10:09)

7. Lucid’s Disappointing Quarter & Leadership Change

Q1 Revenue: $283M vs. $440M expected; flat deliveries attributed to supply chain issues for the Gravity minivan.
Production halted, new CEO incoming.
Shares fell 3% (down 45% YTD).
“They’re kind of a mess right now.” (12:15)

8. Amazon Expands into Shipping Logistics

Amazon opens its logistics network ('Amazon Supply Chain Services') to outside companies, offering warehousing, transport, and delivery—even for non-Amazon sales.
Already serving Procter & Gamble, American Eagle, 3M.
Historical analogy: mirrors AWS expansion from in-house tool to industry leader.
“This feels like Amazon running the AWS playbook all over again.” (13:35)
UPS and FedEx stocks fell 10% on the news.
“It’s kind of crazy to think about all the areas that Amazon operates in now...” (14:41)

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

“[AMD has] now graduated from a company that makes chips for gaming PCs to being a full blown AI infrastructure company.” (04:03 – Zaid Admani)
“The data center business, which includes AMD's AI chips, was the star of the show.” (03:33 – Zaid Admani)
“Disney’s streaming business… for the first time ever, the streaming business hit a double digit profit margin.” (06:33 – Zaid Admani)
“Rideshare remains Uber’s largest business, but it hasn’t outpaced the delivery business since Q4 of 2024.” (09:10 – Zaid Admani)
“Corning... just got a $500 million investment from Nvidia with the option for Nvidia to invest up to $2.7 billion.” (10:09 – Zaid Admani)
“Amazon is opening up its logistics network to all businesses... This feels like Amazon running the AWS playbook all over again.” (13:35 – Zaid Admani)

Timestamps for Important Segments

Market Overview: 00:30 – 02:30
Iran Peace Talks & Oil Reaction: 02:31 – 03:00
AMD Earnings/AI Boom: 03:01 – 06:00
Disney Earnings & Streaming Focus: 06:01 – 08:00
Uber Earnings: 08:01 – 09:50
Corning & Nvidia Investment: 09:51 – 11:30
Lucid Disappointment: 11:31 – 12:30
Amazon Logistics Disruption: 12:31 – 14:50

Takeaways

Tech leadership is moving rapidly to address AI infrastructure demand, with AMD and Nvidia at the forefront, and Corning an unexpected beneficiary.
Traditional media stalwarts like Disney are pivoting successfully to streaming profitability.
Logistics could be the next major growth engine for Amazon, with implications for incumbent shippers.
The market is responding robustly to earnings and perceived geopolitical stability, but caution lingers around overheated sectors and underperformers like Lucid.

Summary created by analyzing the May 6, 2026 episode of The Rundown, hosted by Zaid Admani (Public.com).

Transcript

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Public.com presents the rundown. Your daily market update in 10 minutes. My name is Zaydad Mani and Today is Wednesday, May 6th. In today's episode, I'm recapping earnings from AMD, Disney and Uber. I'll also tell you about Nvidia's 500 million dollar investment in a company known for making glass. Then stick around to the end of the show to find out about Amazon's latest business that is making UPS and FedEx shareholders very nervous. Great show for you today. Let's go. Stocks were back to record highs on Tuesday. The S P 500 was up 0.8%. The Nasdaq jumped 1%. I mean, it was a broad based rally with all 11 sectors finishing in the green. Chip stocks were the biggest winners. Intel surged 13 after reports that Apple is in talks with them and Samsung to manufacture chips here in the US we covered that on yesterday's show, so go check that out if you missed it. Intel's rally pulled up other semiconductor stocks like Sandisk, Micron and Qualcomm, which were all up more than 10% yesterday. And if you look at the sock semiconductor index ticker symbol soxx, it is now up 54% since the end of March. That is the best stretch for the chip stocks since the dot com bubble in the year 2000. That also kind of makes me nervous about what's going to happen to these chip stocks now. The other big driver of the market rally was the Iran situation calming down. Remember on Monday there was an escalation near the Strait of Hormuz, but yesterday Defense Secretary Pete Hexseth played it down, saying the ceasefire is still holding. And then this morning, Axios is reporting that the U.S. and Iran are close to reaching a deal to end the war. Now, nothing has been finalized yet. The US Is reportedly waiting for Iran to respond on several key points in the next 48 hours, but the market is reacting like this is a done deal. Oil prices are down around 10% percent this morning with Brent crude dropping below a hundred dollars a barrel and WTI is now under 90 a barrel. You know, for the past couple weeks the market has been more focused on strong corporate earnings. But if a peace deal with Iran gets done, that could be the cherry on top. We'll continue to keep an eye on the headlines coming out of the Middle east along with everything else happening in the markets. So make sure you guys are subscribed to the podcast and tuning in every day to stay in the loop. Let's run through some headlines starting with AMD AMD reported earnings last night and they absolutely crushed it. Revenue was up 38% to $10.3 billion and their net income nearly doubled to $1.4 billion. The data center business, which includes AMD's AI chips, was the star of the show. Revenue in that segment grew 57% year over year to $5.8 billion. In fact, that one segment alone is now bringing in more revenue than the entire company was generating the less than three years ago. And the cherry on top for these earnings was the guidance. AMD expects revenues to be $11.2 billion next quarter. Wall street analysts were expecting that to be 10.5 billion. So that's a massive beat on the outlook. You know, similar to Nvidia, AMD has now graduated from a company that makes chips for gaming PCs to being a full blown AI infrastructure company. These big tech companies like Microsoft, Google, Meta and Amazon are planning to spend 700/plus billion dollars on AI capex this year. And they don't want to be locked in on just Nvidia's chips. So AMD is benefiting from that. In fact, both OpenAI and Meta have signed up for AMD's upcoming Helios Rack scale AI system which is designed to go head to head with Nvidia's top hardware. And since AI workloads are now shifting towards inference and agentic, AI CPUs are seeing a huge surge in demand from AI data centers. AMD CEO Lisa Su said that server CPU revenue will grow more than 70% this quarter. Also raised the company's long term growth forecast for the data center CPU market from 18 annual growth to over 35% reaching $120 billion by 2030. So yeah, it seems like AMD is firing on all cylinders right now and the market is starting to respect AMD as a legitimate alternative to Nvidia. Now, AMD stock is up more than 15% this morning at the time of this recording. And if you zoom out, the stock has gone up 66% this year heading into the report and more than tripled in the last 12 months. Now let's talk about Disney. They reported earnings this morning and new CEO Josh d' Amaro had a solid debut. Revenues and earnings both topped estimates. In fact, all three of Disney's business segments, which includes entertainment, experiences and sports, beat expectations on profitability. What stood out to me was Disney's streaming business. Disney plus and Hulu profits jumped 88 from last year to $582 million. And for the first time ever, the streaming business hit a double digit profit margin. DIS has done a better job monetizing its users by leaning on advertising and also raising prices. The film studio also did well. Avatar fire and as Zootopia 2 and Pixar movie hoppers have combined for over $3.7 billion at the global box office. And the parks business was also solid with some mixed signals. Revenues in the experience Segment was up 7% to nearly $9.5 billion, and guests are spending more per visit. But domestic park attendance did drop 1%, mostly because of fewer international tourists and be related to the war in the Middle East. Looking ahead, CEO Josh Tomorrow has a vision for the company. He laid out his vision in a long shareholder letter where he called for making Disney plus into a super app where people can book park tickets, buy merch and play games all in one place. Not sure if I agree with that, but that's what he wants to do. Overall though, this was a strong quarter for Disney. Streaming is finally profitable, parks are holding up, movies are working again, and the new CEO is trying to convince Wall street that Disney can grow after what has bas a lost decade for the stock. So we'll see if Josh tomorrow can pull this off. Investors seem to be optimistic for now. Disney stock is up around 6% this morning in reaction to the earnings. Let's talk about some stocks making moves today. Uber shares are up this morning after the company reported earnings this morning. Overall revenue for the first quarter grew 14% thanks to a 20% increase in trips and a 34% rise in delivery, which is Uber's fastest growing business. Total gross bookings, which includes the core rideshare business and UberEats, grew 25% to $53.7 billion. That's the fastest pace since 2022. On top of that, the company provided better than expected booking guidance for the second quarter. The one soft spot, though, was the core rideshare business, which was up just 5%. Rideshare remains Uber's largest business, but it hasn't outpaced the delivery business since Q4 of 2024. But investors seem to be looking past that and focusing on the upbeat outlook for Uber. Stock is up around 6% this morning at the time of this recording. Sticking with the winners here, let's talk about Corning. Most people know Corning as the company that makes the glass on your iPhone. Well, they just got a $500 million investment from Nvidia with the option for Nvidia to invest up to $2.7 billion. As part of this initial investment, Corning will build three new manufacturing facilities in North Carolina, in Texas, to expand fiber optic cable production for AI data centers by 10x. See, these fiber optic cables that Corning makes are the backbone of AI data centers now because they transfer data between chips at massive speeds. So that's been a big boost for Corning's business. Remember, Corning also signed a $6 billion deal with Meta earlier this year to supply them with fiber optic cables for their data centers. Shares of Corning are up around 18% this morning on this news and now up more than 260% over the past year. Now on the flip side, Lucid shares are falling after the EV maker badly missed revenue estimates, bringing in just $283 million in Q1 versus the $440 million that Wall street was expecting. Lucid released a new EV style minivan called the Gravity last year, but vehicle deliveries came in flat year over year. Lucid said there was an issue with the Gravity side seat supplier in the quarter leading to lower deliveries. The company's now suspended the production of the car. They're also bringing in a new CEO, so they're kind of a mess right now. As a result, shares are down around 3% this morning and have now dropped 45% this year. Let's wrap the show with a fun fact. Amazon is opening up its logistics network to all businesses. This new service is called Amazon Supply Chain Services. And any company can now use Amazon's warehouse trucks, planes and delivery network to ship their stuff, even if they're not selling those products on Amazon. Companies like Procter and Gamble, American Eagle 3M and more have already signed up. The thing is, Amazon already handles like six plus billion packages a year. They have over 200 fulfillment centers, 80,000 trailers, and more than 100 cargo planes. So it makes sense for Amazon to charge other companies to use it too. This feels like Amazon running the AWS playbook all over again. Back in the day, Amazon built cloud infrastructure for their own website. They realized that it was really good and they started selling cloud capacity to other companies. Fast forward to today and AWS is the biggest cloud provider in the world and the main profit engine for Amazon. So yeah, Amazon's kind of known for doing stuff like this, and I wouldn't be surprised if their logistics network takes meaningful market share from UPS and FedEx in a short amount of time. In fact, when this news dropped earlier this week, both UPS and FedEx stocks dropped around 10%. Also, it's kind of crazy to think about all the areas that Amazon operates in now. They're an e commerce company, they're a cloud company, they're an advertising company, they're a streaming company, and now they're a shipping company. Well, all right, guys, that's the rundown for today. Hope you guys enjoyed today's episode. If you did and you have like five extra seconds, consider giving us a five star rating on Apple, Spotify, YouTube, wherever you listen to your podcast. All that engagement really does help us out and it helps other people find the show. Thank you guys so much for listening, watching, and commenting. Shout out to Mike and Connor for all the work behind the scenes, and we'll see you guys back here tomorrow.