AMD nibbles at Intel business PC market share

On track to achieve 30% of market by end of year

AMD is eating into Intel's market share - in some territories during Q3, at least - according the figures from market watcher Gartner Dataquest.

So, some 54 per cent of the desktop PCs sold into Japanese homes during July, August and September contained AMD processors. During Q3 2000, AMD's share was 24 per cent.

And 49 per cent of home desktops sold in Western Europe during Q3 2001 were AMD-based machines, up from 25 per cent in the year-ago quarter.

In the US, AMD took 40 per cent of the "commercial sector" (by which, we assume, it means business PCs), 33 per cent of the government arena and 18 per cent of the education market, up from nine per cent the previous year. The chipmaker's processors were included in 27 per cent of all PCs sold in the US during the quarter, up from 17 per cent.

All of which has made AMD suitably chuffed, though for all its desire to drive into the corporate market - the focus of its sales strategy this year - the best statistics it can quote relate to its traditional stronghold: the consumer desktop market.

AMD's goal this year, leaked by an unwary company executive in June, is to take 30 per cent of the market, up from the 17 per cent share it took in 2000. The chip maker's share in the US suggests that it's within striking distance of that goal, though at the time of the leak, the company was adamant that its didn't have such an elevated target.

That said, the figures come ahead of October's Athlon XP launch - and, for that matter, Intel's October Pentium 4 price cuts. The Q3 figures are good, but won't be as telling as Q4's numbers, which should show whether AMD and Gartner Dataquest can come up with 'a new kind of market share'. ®

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AMD 'on track' for 30% marketshare, claims exec