Intel Loses Market Share To AMD


It is a surprise seeing Intel lose microprocessor market share to Advanced Micro Devices.

But that is exactly what happened in the first quarter, according to iSuppli. Intel’s share slipped a substantive 2.5 points to 79.1 percent from 81.6 in the fourth quarter while AMD gained about as much to hold a 12.8 percent share.

ISuppli says AMD had a strong performance in desktop, server and particularly in notebook. But it is hard to believe the company’s competitive position has been strengthened that much in the past several months.

More probably, the PC market paused to digest the gains Intel has made since coming out with an improved lineup of chips more than a year ago.

With better products in the market, Intel gained share in each of the previous four quarters, its market dominance rising from a 78 percent share to the fourth quarter’s 81.6 percent, iSuppli data show.
This is in part due to the release of the Atom processor, which became the computer brains in a first generation of netbooks. But it also is linked to the Core 2 Duos Intel has been fielding with better power management and performance.

The company has been manufacturing with 45-nm technology and the nano-sized circuits give it a cost advantage.

Anyway, the winning streak came to an end during the first three months of 2009 as the microprocessor market declined 20.6 percent to $6.9 billion in size. Don’t expect it to continue.

(Oh, by the way, do expect the market declines to continue. ISuppi expects full year microprocessor revenue to be down 15.8 percent to $28.6 billion.)