Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. (AMD) just scored a significant European victory, landing the contract to power France's first exascale supercomputer. It's the kind of win that shows AMD's growing clout in the high-stakes world of AI and scientific computing, where the company continues chipping away at rivals like Nvidia Corp (NVDA).

AMD is teaming up with French tech firm Eviden to build Alice Recoque, a computational beast designed to help Europe compete in artificial intelligence and scientific research. The system will become France's first—and Europe's second—exascale supercomputer, meaning it can crank through more than a quintillion calculations per second. To put that in perspective, that's faster than what humans could think through in four consecutive years.

French public research agencies are bankrolling the $600 million project with backing from the European Union, and AMD's latest processors and graphics chips will provide the computational muscle. The supercomputer will tackle large-scale scientific challenges including climate modeling, medical research, clean-energy innovation, and next-generation AI training.

Here's where it gets interesting: despite all that raw power, the system is engineered to sip rather than gulp energy compared to older supercomputers. Eviden plans to cool the entire machine using warm water, and redesigned components will slash power costs while maintaining elite performance levels.

For Europe, this isn't just about computational horsepower. The supercomputer represents a strategic push toward technology independence. By manufacturing more components locally and controlling the supply chain, France and its partners are working to reduce their dependence on foreign tech companies, especially in critical areas like artificial intelligence.

AMD, now valued at $390 billion, has rocketed more than 99% year-to-date, propelled by expansion in the AI datacenter graphics processing unit space. The company expects to keep gaining ground against Intel in both the central processing unit markets for PCs and servers.

Wall Street has noticed AMD's aggressive growth trajectory, driven by surging demand for AI chips. Analysts are bullish on long-term expansion, though they differ on how much near-term upside remains in the stock.

Goldman Sachs' James Schneider acknowledged that AMD set financial targets exceeding expectations and identified OpenAI as a major revenue driver, but noted he wants clearer visibility into that opportunity before becoming more bullish.

JPMorgan's Harlan Sur anticipates datacenter sales will surge as AMD captures market share in AI GPUs and server CPUs, driving stronger margins and earnings power by 2027.

Bank of America's Vivek Arya highlighted AMD taking double-digit share of the AI chip market, which could lead to more than $100 billion in future datacenter revenue and substantial earnings growth through 2030.

Price Action: AMD stock traded 1.24% lower to $237.53 in premarket trading at last check on Tuesday.