While Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMD) has made some compelling announcements lately, there has been no lasting impact on the AMD stock price.

Since July, the shares have been range-bound, between $12 to $14. In fact, for the year so far, AMD has posted a gain of only about 12%. By comparison, rival NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ:NVDA) is up a sizzling 65%.

So can AMD break out of the rut? Is there an opportunity here? Well, I think so. Although, it is important to note that a key part of the potential for AMD stock will play out over the next few years. In other words, there will need to be some patience.

Now one of the big knocks against AMD stock is that it is far behind NVDA when it comes to AI (Artificial Intelligence). Somehow the belief is that this market will ultimately have one winner.

But this really does seem to be an exaggeration. The fact is that AMD has some major advantages. After all, it has spent years developing GPUs (Graphics Processing Units), which have proven quite effective for AI. This type of technology allows for processing of huge amounts of data at low costs.

Next, AI systems will likely not be monolithic. Note that the technology will apply to many different industries and applications. So it would not be surprising to see AMD evolve its systems to different market needs.

Already we are seeing traction. According to a report from CNBC, AMD and Tesla Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA) are in a collaboration involving more than 50 employees to build technologies for autonomous systems. This is certainly a validation of AMD’s technology, especially since NVDA has been a key customer for TSLA.

AMD Stock And Other Growth Businesses

The success in AMD stock is not just about AI. The reality is that the company has invested aggressively in R&D over the past years to target various mega market opportunities. And yes, AMD is starting to roll out the innovations:

• Ryzen: This is the CPU (central processing unit) for the PC desktop market. While the market is fairly mature, the revenue levels are massive. Besides, the low-cost strategy should be key in ginning up new business.
• Radeon Vega: This is a sophisticated GPU for PC gaming, professional design and machine learning. Consider that one of the marquee customers is Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL).
• Epyc: This is AMD’s offering for the enormous datacenter market, which is controlled by Intel Corporation (NASDAQ:INTC). Already the company has snagged customers like Hewlett Packard Enterprise Co (NYSE:HPE), Dell, Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) and Baidu Inc (ADR) (NASDAQ:BIDU).

Bottom Line On AMD Stock

The recent sluggishness in AMD stock should not necessarily be surprising. Last year, the shares posted a return of 309%. So it is natural for there to be consolidation.

But again, the company is in the midst of a major product cycle, which should help provide strong momentum on the top and bottom lines for the coming years. It also helps that AMD is uniquely positioned as it is a developer of CPUs and GPUs. For the most part, this allows for expanding the market opportunities but also bundling strategies with customers.

Now as to whether when the stock will get back into gear and reflect the good news, it’s tough to gauge. But it should be worth the wait given the likely acceleration in the growth ramp.

Tom Taulli runs the InvestorPlace blog IPO Playbook and is also the author of High-Profit IPO Strategies, All About Commodities and All About Short Selling. Follow him on Twitter at @ttaulli. As of this writing, he did not hold a position in any of the aforementioned securities.