Credit Suisse First Boston (CSFB) upgraded AMD stock today to Neutral from Underperform based on their belief that the spinout of the company’s flash memory business will be viewed favourably and that AMD will have the highest exposure to high density flash memory, which is the fastest growing sector in their 2003 semi forecast, as reported by In Play.

AMD, Fujitsu and other suppliers of flash memory devices are all likely to enjoy good sales of their memory products this quarter, as Intel, one of the largest manufacturers of flash memory, reported lower than anticipated flash memory sales. It is generally believed that Intel holds the prices on its products at high level (see more details on the decision in this news-story), hoping that the demand will rise greatly in the second quarter, however, it has already affected volumes of Intel’s sales this quarter, as the company recognized on the 7^th of March (see this news-story).

CSFB’s target price for AMD stock is $6.50. Current price at NYSE is $6.56, up 11.8% from yesterday. Flash memory sales accounts approximately one third of AMD’s revenue.