Key Highlights
- Shares of Rackspace Technology (RXT) climbed 21% to $7.15 during Tuesday’s premarket session following confirmation of a strategic AMD partnership
- AMD has been designated as the principal chip provider for Rackspace’s artificial intelligence cloud operations
- Plans call for deploying 30 megawatts of AMD-powered computing infrastructure throughout Rackspace’s worldwide data center network
- Implementation launches in the fourth quarter of 2026, with complete deployment anticipated by 2028
- The collaboration emphasizes serving highly regulated sectors such as healthcare through enterprise-focused AI solutions
Rackspace Technology (RXT) shares experienced a significant 21% rally to $7.15 in Tuesday’s premarket session after announcing the completion of a strategic partnership with Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) that designates AMD processors as the foundation of its data center operations.
Rackspace Technology, Inc., RXT
Shares of AMD also advanced, climbing 0.9% following the announcement, outperforming Nasdaq futures which increased just 0.3%.
The partnership elevates a preliminary memorandum of understanding from May to a binding definitive agreement. This formalization positions AMD as the strategic semiconductor partner powering Rackspace’s artificial intelligence infrastructure foundation.
Both organizations intend to implement 30 megawatts of AMD-powered processing capability throughout Rackspace’s international data center footprint. Initial deployment commences in late 2026 with completion targeted for 2028.
The collaboration will leverage AMD Instinct GPUs, specifically the MI355X and MI350P variants, alongside AMD EPYC processors. These components will form the backbone of what both companies describe as an “Enterprise AI Cloud” framework.
According to Rackspace CEO Gajen Kandiah, the alliance provides a “governed AI stack with one accountable partner from silicon to outcomes.” This messaging directly targets organizations operating in highly regulated environments requiring stringent oversight of their AI systems.
The healthcare sector represents an initial focus area. Rackspace indicated that medical institutions have already demonstrated substantial interest in leveraging the platform for clinical artificial intelligence applications and inference operations.
Components of the Partnership
The binding agreement encompasses four distinct offerings: Enterprise AI Cloud, Enterprise Inference Engine, Inference as a Service, and Bare Metal AMD Instinct. These components collectively provide an end-to-end managed infrastructure spanning raw computational power to fully operated AI inference capabilities.
Both AMD and Rackspace have committed to assigning dedicated sales and marketing resources to collaborate on customer acquisition. Priority markets include regulated industries where data governance and operational accountability represent critical requirements.
According to both companies, the transition from experimental AI projects to autonomous workflows integrated within mission-critical enterprise systems is fueling demand for this infrastructure model.
The Strategic Focus on Compliance-Heavy Sectors
Current AI infrastructure predominantly follows a bare metal approach, requiring enterprises to assemble proprietary technology stacks from disparate vendors. Rackspace and AMD are presenting this partnership as a streamlined alternative, featuring unified accountability across the complete infrastructure.
Dan McNamara, Senior Vice President of Compute and Enterprise AI at AMD, stated the agreement provides regulated organizations with “high-performance AI infrastructure with the openness, scalability and accountability needed to run AI at enterprise scale.”
Rackspace’s equity has experienced considerable volatility throughout the year, making Tuesday’s premarket surge particularly noteworthy as investors react positively to the company securing a multi-year hardware commitment with a leading semiconductor manufacturer.
The initial 30 megawatt capacity is scheduled to begin implementation in the final months of 2026.


