Europeans Continue to Flock to AMD

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It's no secret that AMD has benefited from Intel's ongoing processor shortage. The company's silicon has found its way into Chromebooks and other laptops and started to appeal more to enthusiasts over the last year. Numbers around AMD's increasing popularity have been quantified by market analyst Context, and the numbers might be higher than you'd think.

As reported by The Independent today, AMD CPUS were found in 7% of the 5.07 million systems that were shipped to European retailers and resellers in 2018. Those numbers have risen, with AMD's chips now being found in 12% of laptops and desktops, even as the total number of shipments rose to 5.24 million. That means shipments of AMD-powered systems rose from 355,000 units to 629,000 units in a year.

That growth was highest in the retail market, where AMD's share of shipments rose from 11% last year to 18% this year. Shipments of business-targeting PCs featuring AMD processors also jumped from 5% to 8%. It's not like Intel's majority share of the market is in danger--especially where business customers are concerned--but AMD's growth shows that companies are willing to consider other solutions.

Not that Intel's taking all this lying down. Last week, the company sent us the following statement in response to a report on HP and Lenovo bemoaning its CPU shortage:

"We are actively working to address the supply-demand challenge, and we expect supply in the second half will be up compared to the first half. We continue to prioritize available output toward the newest generation Intel Core products that support our customers’ high-growth segments and we plan to further increase our output capacity in 2020."

It's not clear when Intel will have enough CPUs to meet its customers' needs. The company's working to increase production, though, and that could be enough to slow AMD's rise. Manufacturers have made it clear that they want to use Intel's processors, and some have mostly turned to AMD's offerings out of desperation. What happens when they can once again buy as many of Intel's products as they want?

Nathaniel Mott
Freelance News & Features Writer

Nathaniel Mott is a freelance news and features writer for Tom's Hardware US, covering breaking news, security, and the silliest aspects of the tech industry.

  • advancedmicrodevicesfan
    The last paragraph shows some intense Intel bias, "Manufacturers have made it clear that they want to use Intel's processors, and some have mostly turned to AMD's offerings out of desperation."

    AMD's products are more cost efficient in pretty much any measure. For gaming, Frames / $, Frames / Watt, or for desktop, Perf / $ or Perf / Watt. Certainly in the server market, AMD is so far ahead it's not even close, citing over 500% improvement in Perf / Total Cost of Ownership on certain benchmarks relative to Intel's best.
    Reply
  • kinggremlin
    Manufacturers don't necessarily care what is objectively better. They care primarily what will make them the most money. Customers will pay more for Intel CPU's so that's what they want to sell. There is no bias in reporting facts nor is there bias in businesses chasing the money. The bias lies with the customers.
    Reply
  • waltc3
    advancedmicrodevicesfan said:
    The last paragraph shows some intense Intel bias, "Manufacturers have made it clear that they want to use Intel's processors, and some have mostly turned to AMD's offerings out of desperation."

    AMD's products are more cost efficient in pretty much any measure. For gaming, Frames / $, Frames / Watt, or for desktop, Perf / $ or Perf / Watt. Certainly in the server market, AMD is so far ahead it's not even close, citing over 500% improvement in Perf / Total Cost of Ownership on certain benchmarks relative to Intel's best.

    Yes, the Intel prejudice in places is indeed thick. It's so silly of Intel to push the notion that the only reason people are asking for AMD is because they can't get a comparable Intel product because....because of what? Because aliens are stealing all the Intel CPUs? What a truly silly thing to say, especially when one considers that the real reason people are choosing AMD is because Intel cannot at this time come to market with a competitive product! Simple enough, eh?
    Reply
  • Olle P
    advancedmicrodevicesfan said:
    The last paragraph shows some intense Intel bias, ...
    AMD's products are more cost efficient...
    kinggremlin said:
    Manufacturers don't necessarily care what is objectively better. They care primarily what will make them the most money. Customers will pay more for Intel CPU's... The bias lies with the customers.
    Some customers might ask specifically for Intel CPUs, but the key difference is that AMD won't pay the manufacturers any money for selling their products whereas Intel do pay the OEMs (for not selling AMD in any significant amount):
    5q31xSCIQ1E:751The OEMs state that they want to sell Intel products because otherwise Intel won't pay them.
    Reply