Super Micro Stock Jumps After Hours as AI Demand Lifts Its Quarterly Sales Forecast to as Much as $19.5 Billion

The AI server maker says sales for the quarter that ended Sept. 30 blew past its own forecast, a fresh sign that spending on AI data centers is still climbing.

Why did Super Micro stock jump after hours?

Super Micro Computer (SMCI) said on Tuesday, Oct. 20, 2026, that it expects fiscal first-quarter revenue of $18.5 billion to $19.5 billion, far above its earlier forecast of $14.5 billion to $15.5 billion. It credited stronger demand for AI platforms. The shares rose about 11% to 16% in after-hours trading.

The figures came in a preliminary business update released at 4:30 p.m. Eastern time, after the regular stock market session had closed. The quarter covers July through September, which is the first quarter of Super Micro's 2027 fiscal year.

Wall Street was not expecting numbers this big. Analysts had forecast about $15.23 billion in revenue on average, according to LSEG data cited by Reuters. Reuters reported the stock rose 11.3% after hours, while Crypto Briefing put the gain at roughly 12% to 16%. The stock had closed the regular session at $32.47 and traded at $36.60 at 5:46 p.m. Eastern, according to MarketScreener.

What did Super Micro actually report?

Super Micro builds the servers and server racks that hold AI chips from companies such as Nvidia. Big tech firms and cloud providers buy these systems to fill new data centers.

The company gave two preliminary numbers. Revenue is expected to land between $18.5 billion and $19.5 billion. Gross margin, the share of each sales dollar left after the direct cost of building the products, is expected at 12% to 12.5%. Its earlier margin forecast was 10.4% to 10.8%, and analysts expected about 10.15%, according to Reuters. The company said the better margin came mainly from its mix of customers and products.