AMD Halts Intel Market Share Advance

In the second quarter, Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) managed to stabilize its market share After six months of microprocessor market-share loses to rival Intel Corp., according to a preliminary ranking from iSuppli. Ending a long period of decline, AMD accounted for 11.4 percent of worldwide microprocessor sales, up half a percentage point from 10.9 percent in the first quarter, according to the preliminary report. Previously, AMD had seen its market share dwindle by nearly six points from 16.8 percent in the third quarter of 2006 to 10.9 percent in the first quarter of 2007. Meanwhile, Intel saw a corresponding half-point decline in the second quarter, with its share decreasing to 80.3 percent from 80.8 percent in the previous quarter. This ended a major resurgence in Intel's market-share during the prior two quarters. Analysts attributed the market-share reversal to a decline in Intel's microprocessor average selling prices (ASP's). That caused a drop in Intel's revenue, even though its microprocessor shipments were up, according to Matthew Wilkins, principal analyst for compute platforms research at iSuppli. "However, with only a 1 percentage point swing in market share between the two companies in the first quarter, the second quarter essentially maintained the status quo of the first quarter, with no significant trade in market-share position between the two main microprocessor suppliers to the PC and server segments," Wilkins said.