AMD Hits $1T, Nvidia Eyes Hugging Face: Sept. 27

AMD crossed the $1 trillion valuation mark today, becoming the latest chipmaker to reach that milestone, while a reported Nvidia bid for AI model hub Hugging Face is drawing attention to just how aggressively the GPU giant is expanding its footprint beyond hardware.

Key points

• AMD (NASDAQ: AMD) surpassed a $1 trillion market cap on September 27, driven by the broader semiconductor and AI surge.
• Bank of America raised its AMD price target from $620 to $720, maintaining a “buy” rating.
• Nvidia is reportedly eyeing an acquisition of Hugging Face for approximately $12.93 billion, which would be a major move into the AI software and model ecosystem.
• Nvidia is also exploring glass substrates in collaboration with German equipment maker SCHMID to boost chip performance.
• Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) saw unusually high call options volume on Friday, with 911,287 contracts traded, up 29% from the typical daily average.

AMD joins the trillion-dollar club

AMD’s ascent to a $1 trillion valuation puts it alongside Nvidia and TSMC as one of the few semiconductor companies to reach that threshold. The milestone reflects sustained investor confidence in the company’s AI accelerator roadmap and its ability to compete for data center GPU workloads. Bank of America’s fresh price target raise, from $620 to $720, signals that at least some analysts see further room to run even at these levels. The $100 gap in the revised target is a meaningful upward revision and suggests the bank views AMD’s AI-related pipeline as underappreciated relative to current pricing.

The trillion-dollar mark is largely symbolic, but the timing matters. AMD reaching this level during a broader AI infrastructure buildout gives the company real currency, both reputationally and practically, as it competes for large enterprise and cloud contracts against Nvidia.

Is Nvidia buying Hugging Face?

The more eye-catching story today is the reported Nvidia bid for Hugging Face at around $12.93 billion. Hugging Face is the dominant open-source platform for hosting and sharing AI models, widely used by researchers and enterprise developers alike. For Nvidia, acquiring it would extend its influence from the silicon layer directly into the AI development stack, where models are built, fine-tuned, and deployed.

The deal’s reported scale also generated an unusual sidebar: NBA star Kevin Durant, who invested $250,000 in Hugging Face during its first funding round eight years ago through his Thirty Five Ventures fund, could see that stake grow to more than $60 million if the acquisition closes at the reported price.

No deal has been confirmed. Investors should treat this as a reported negotiation, not a completed transaction. That said, if accurate, it would represent one of Nvidia’s largest acquisitions and a clear signal that the company sees AI model infrastructure as strategically critical, not just adjacent.

Nvidia’s glass substrate push

Separate from the Hugging Face story, Nvidia is working with SCHMID and other partners to evaluate glass substrates as a replacement for traditional organic substrates in chip packaging. Glass substrates offer better thermal stability, lower signal loss, and potentially higher interconnect density, all of which matter for next-generation AI accelerators pushing the limits of power and bandwidth. This is an early-stage exploration, but it fits a broader industry trend: as chip performance scales slow at the transistor level, packaging and substrate innovation is becoming a primary battleground.

Microsoft options activity spikes

Traders bought 911,287 Microsoft call options on Friday, a 29% jump above the typical daily volume of roughly 707,695. Unusual options activity of this scale can reflect institutional positioning ahead of an expected catalyst, though it can also be driven by hedging or routine portfolio activity. The source does not specify a particular trigger. Microsoft remains a major AI infrastructure player through its Azure platform and deep OpenAI relationship, so elevated options interest is worth tracking even without a clear stated cause.

Nothing in this article is investment advice. All figures are sourced from the articles linked above and have not been independently verified by this site.