Intel's CPU Share Slips Slightly
Intel Corp.'s share of the CPU market fell slightly during the third quarter as smaller rivals nipped at the leading chip maker's heels.
Source: eWeekIntel's market share slipped to 81.9 percent, versus 82.5 percent a quarter before, according to data released Monday by Mercury Research Corp., of Cave Creek, Ariz. Rival Advanced Micro Devices Inc. saw its share increase by a smidgen, from 15.5 percent to 15.8 percent. Instead, the share shifts were a result of increased sales in the so-called "other" category, according to analyst Dean McCarron, who conducted the survey. This also-ran category is represented by Transmeta Corp. and Via Technologies Inc., that sell low-cost CPUs, primarily into the Asian region. While AMD's numbers increased compared to Intel's, the company's share is still down from its historical high point late last year. Currently, AMD is converting its manufacturing to a faster 90nm process, as well as shifting its lines to 64-bit products. The real upside for AMD could be in the notebook market, McCarron said, where until now AMD has only been able to penetrate the "desktop-replacement" market. AMD began shipping its Athlon 64 processors for thin-and-light notebooks during the fourth quarter, and the company has also announced a 32-bit Sempron processor for the value notebook category, as well.
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