Intel has increased its market share over AMD, despite
both companies reporting a rise in shipments, according to data
from Mercury Research.
Intel shipped 82.6% of the desktop, notebook, and server
processors based on the x86 instruction set in the third quarter,
said Dean McCarron, principal analyst with Mercury Research, and
said AMD shipped 15.8% of those processors.
Compared with last year's quarter, AMD gained ground and Intel
lost position.
But AMD deliberately held back on production in last year's
third quarter to clear out downstream inventory built up during the
second quarter, when it shipped a surplus of processors in the hope
of a chip turnaround that never materialised.
Therefore, AMD's third-quarter 2002 results did not provide an
accurate picture of the company's market share, and cannot be
meaningfully compared against this year's third quarter, McCarron
said.
Intel strengthened its efforts to capture market share in
emerging markets around the world, which played a role in the
company's improved market share, McCarron said.
Shipments of notebook processors also posted strong increases in
the third quarter, a segment in which Intel's advantage over AMD is
even more pronounced.
Mobile processors represented 19.5% of all shipments in the
third quarter, up from 17.6% in last year's third quarter, McCarron
said.
Tom Krazit writes for IDG News Service