The Smartest Growth Stock to Buy With $250 Right Now

If you've got $250 to put toward a stock purchase right now, there are some great options in the fast-growing technology sector. But not all tech stocks are growing at the same pace, and not all are successfully tapping into the massive artificial intelligence (AI) opportunity.

The good news is that even with $250, you can buy a share of Advanced Micro Devices (NASDAQ: AMD). Doing so now could turn out to be a very smart move years from now, especially as the company just made a blockbuster deal with ChatGPT-maker OpenAI.

Here are a few reasons to buy AMD stock right now.

AMD's deal with OpenAI could be worth billions

OpenAI recently announced a new partnership with AMD to deploy up to 6 gigawatts of the tech company's advanced GPUs for its AI-focused data centers. The first gigawatt of the deal will be delivered in the second half of 2026 and scale up from there as the companies work together to share expertise.

AMD issued a warrant to OpenAI for up to 160 million shares of its stock if certain goals are met. For AMD's part, the deal could be worth "tens of billions of dollars," according to AMD CFO Jean Hu.

One Citi analyst estimates that the revenue potential for AMD could be as high as $90 billion if it reaches the full extent of the deal. That's an impressive amount on its own, but it's even more notable when you consider that AMD's 2024 data center revenue was $12.6 billion. That means the potential revenue from the deal could be many more times the company's current annual data center sales.

Having OpenAI as a customer could spur more deals from other clients

While nothing has been announced about new AMD clients, I think it's important to highlight that the company scoring a big graphics processing unit (GPU) deal with OpenAI could help bring in additional deals with other customers.

AMD has played second fiddle to Nvidia in the AI GPU space for a while. But the OpenAI partnership could convince other tech giants that if AMD's processes are good enough for a leading AI company, they're likely good enough for their AI data center needs as well. Before the OpenAI deal was announced, some estimates put AMD's AI chip market share at just 4% by 2030, compared to Nvidia's 67% in that same year. With the current partnership, I wouldn't be surprised if AMD's future market share ends up being significantly higher.

The OpenAI deal comes as companies are continuing to spend massive sums on their AI data center infrastructure. Nvidia's management estimates this spending could be between $3 trillion to $4 trillion between now and 2030. With AMD snagging such an important customer in OpenAI, some of this data center spending over the next few years could shift a little more to AMD.

AMD is a buy, but keep this in mind

AMD is still far behind Nvidia in the AI-specific GPU market, even with the new OpenAI deal. Nvidia has an estimated 70% to 95% of the AI data center processor market right now. It's unclear how much AMD will be able to carve into that lead. What's more, while the deal could eventually give AMD tens of billions of dollars, it's not guaranteed.

Still, that shouldn't keep you from putting $250 toward AMD stock right now. The company just scored a major partnership with one of the world's leading AI companies, and it could prove to be an important catalyst for the company over the coming years.

Citigroup is an advertising partner of Motley Fool Money. Chris Neiger has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Advanced Micro Devices and Nvidia. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.