Last quarter chip giant Intel lost some of its market share to its rival AMD (among others such as Via and IBM). Though Intel didn"t lose enough to cry about it shows that that Intel may need to rethink its business strategy. According to figures released by Mercury Research Intel lost 0.8% while AMD captured an additional 0.5% market share.
As anyone can tell you the processor market share fluctuates mainly between Intel and AMD. So at any given time one company will gain market share while the other loses market share. The reason this time for the Intel"s decreased market share is the demand for cheap computers. In this case AMD benefits greatly. Especially when you take in consideration that AMD has a lot more low-cost processors than its rival. Earlier this month AMD released its Sempron processors, which start as low as $39.
While it"s good news to hear that AMD has gained more market share the real test has yet to come. The most important test for market share will come during the third and forth quarters. Because during these quarters PC sales are at their highest (back to school sales and holiday seasons). Unless Intel unveils something really unexpected during that time my money is on AMD.