AMD Snags x86 Market Share from Intel Ahead of Ivy Bridge Launch

Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) managed to lessen the gap between it and Intel in the x86 space, even if just by a smidgen. According to Mercury Research's latest data, AMD's x86 market share jumped nearly a full percentage point from 18.2 percent to 19.1 percent in the first quarter of 2012, compared to Intel, which dropped from 81 percent to 80.2 percent, nearly the same margin as AMD's gain.

These figures represent x86 market share prior to Intel's Ivy Bridge launch, which became official earlier this week. Ivy Bridge is Intel's newest processor line built on a 22nm manufacturing process using 3D transistors, a combination that adds up to higher performing parts with a lower power consumption than that of previous generation Core processors (Sandy Bridge).

"One of the things that is clear is that the market is adopting new technology faster than it used to. I would expect Ivy Bridge to ramp aggressively," said Dean McCarron, principal analyst at Mercury Research, according to NetworkWorld.

That's bad news for AMD, though the Sunnyvale chip maker is attempting to counter Intel's Ivy Bridge launch with a series of price cuts to its A-Series APU and FX Series processors. Also helping AMD is the fact that buyers are trending towards lower cost notebooks, many of which have AMD inside, McCarron said.

Source: Hothardware

Tags: AMD, AMD Bulldozer