AMD revenue beats, company signs $293 million licensing agreement

(Reuters) - Advanced Micro Devices Inc's quarterly revenue handsomely beat Wall Street estimates and the chipmaker said it signed a $293 million licensing agreement with a Chinese investment group.

Shares of the company surged 23 percent after hours.

AMD said it signed an agreement licensing its processor technology to a joint venture it has formed with Tianjin Haiguang Advanced Technology Investment Co Ltd (THATIC), an investment unit of Chinese Academy of Sciences.

The venture will develop processors tailored for the Chinese server market, AMD said.

The company has been struggling with weak demand from China, its biggest market, as well as stiff competition from Intel Corp and Nvidia Corp .

AMD's first-quarter revenue fell 19.2 percent to $832 million, but beat average analysts' estimate of $818.2 million, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

Net loss narrowed to $109 million, or 14 cents per share, in the first quarter ended March 26, from $180 million, or 23 cents per share, a year earlier.

Excluding items, AMD posted a loss of 12 cents per share, compared with analysts' estimate of a 13 cents per share loss.

(This story corrects to say revenue estimate is $818.2 million, not $818.2 billion in paragraph six)

(Reporting by Kshitiz Goliya and Rishika Sadam in Bengaluru; Editing by Savio D'Souza and Sayantani Ghosh)