AMD, Intel In Market Share Stalemate

In what may be the calm before the storm, little change was seen in the market shares of rivals Advanced Micro Devices and Intel in the third quarter.

Changes in each vendor's share of global revenue for microprocessors were less than 1 percentage point on a month-to-month and year-to-year basis, iSuppli reported Wednesday. The shifts were so small that they were not considered significant.

The two companies have been unable to lure customers from each other because each offers a well-matched product portfolio, iSuppli analyst Matthew Wilkins said. In addition, there haven't been any dramatic changes in the market shares of personal computers that use the vendors' products.

These relatively static conditions are not expected to last long. Both vendors have new products in the pipeline that could bring the market to boil. AMD is scheduled to release next year the first of its accelerated processing units, which combine a 32-nanometer CPU with a graphics core on a single die. The next-generation architecture is expected to significantly boost graphics and processing power in PCs with low to mid-range prices.

On the other hand, computer makers are expected to release early next year PCs running Intel's next-generation microarchitecture. Codenamed Sandy Bridge, the product also merges graphics and a 32-nm x86 core on a single die. The architecture marks the second generation of Intel's Core processor family, which includes the Core i3, i5, and i7 chips.

"There remains a very competitive situation between the dominant suppliers," Wilkins said in a statement.

Intel in the third quarter accounted for 80.1% of global revenue for PC microprocessors, down 0.1% from the same period a year ago and 0.3% from the second quarter. AMD saw its share dip 0.8% year-to-year and 0.2% sequentially to 11.3%.

Meanwhile, worldwide revenue grew 23% in the quarter year-to-year and 3% sequentially, iSuppli said. The rate of expansion is considered "very healthy growth," said the analyst firm.

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