Intel grabs server market share from AMD, says IDC

19.08.2010
Intel has expanded its share of the server microprocessor market, taking advantage of a slow product transition at perennial rival Advanced Micro Devices, according to figures released late Wednesday by IDC.

Intel supplied 93.5 percent of the server processor units shipped in the second quarter, up from 89.9 percent in the same quarter last year. AMD's share slipped to 6.5 percent from 10.1 percent over the same period, IDC said.

Most of AMD's share loss occurred between the first and second quarters, when server makers were slow to offer AMD's new 6000 series Opterons in their systems.

"AMD is in the middle of a product transition. It stated in late Q1 and they hoped it would be completed in Q2, but it turns out it took their OEMs a bit longer to ramp up the products they were building," said Mercury Research analyst Dean McCarron.

AMD executives during an earnings call for the second quarter, in which the company swung to a loss after two straight quarters of profit. Intel had a , thanks largely to growth in its server chip business.

"Intel got significant sales traction for its new 32 nanometer Xeon DP products, formerly code-named Westmere-EP, and for its 45 nanometer Xeon MP products, formerly code-named Nehalem-EX," IDC analyst Shane Rau said via e-mail.