AMD Bests Intel in October Retail Sales
AMD appears to be making serious progress at chipping away Intel's dominance of the PC industry, as the company was able to narrowly beat out its larger rival in terms of systems sold at retail during the month of October, according to data from research firm Current Analysis.
The chipmaker had a slight lead in the desktop space in September, but was able to increase its strength this past month and overtake Intel overall. In total, 49.8 percent of retail systems included an AMD processor versus 48.5 percent running an Intel chip.
The news comes as a dramatic reversal of the company's fortunes from this spring. From October 2004 to April 2005 AMD saw its market share fall from a little over 35 percent to less than 20 percent, while Intel's share climbed from around 60 percent to near 80 percent during the same period.
One possible reason for the uptick in sales could be higher brand recognition following AMD's much-publicized suit against Intel for anti-competitive business practices. The suit was filed in late June; since that time AMD's share has increased every month except for one, in August.
If AMD is able to maintain this momentum through the all-important fourth quarter retail season, it would be quite significant, analysts say.
"AMD did the unthinkable by surpassing Intel in October. Continuing to hold this lead in the holiday season would be a colossal win for the company," Current Analysis Research Director Matt Sargent said.
Wal-Mart is widely rumored to soon offer a $398 PC and notebook system with AMD processors, which the firm says is indicative of the company's newfound retail strength.
By system type, AMD's desktop share shot up to 67.7 percent in October from 52 percent the month before. On the laptop side, AMD had 31.5 percent of the market, versus 26.2 percent in September.
AMD still trails Intel in terms of PC revenue share, 57.6 to 40.1 percent, however this is due to the average selling price of an AMD PC being significantly lower than that of Intel machines.
It should be noted that retail sales figures do not include companies such as Dell, which is the top PC manufacturer in the world and primarily ships Intel-based computers. Hewlett-Packard also sells its systems through non-retail channels.