Intel intensifies assault against AMD

Although AMD has recently been gaining ground against arch-rival Intel, the firm cannot afford to rest on its laurels and must continue to innovate to maintain its momentum in the market, industry experts reported today.

In-Stat notes that Intel has a "new sense of urgency" due to AMD's recent market and technology gains, and is responding with new products and strategies.

"In the face of stiffer competition from Intel, AMD's acquisition of ATI may be another game-changing event, with the planned integration of Graphics Processing Units (GPUs) into future PC processors. The battle for the PC is no longer just a processor war, but truly a platform war," said Jim McGregor, In-Stat principal analyst.

Recent In-Stat research notes that AMD's PC and server market shares have been rising steadily since the first quarter of 2004. The company has captured more than a 22 per cent share in both the PC and server markets on the advantages of the AMD64 architecture.

The analyst firm goes on to warn that AMD is facing a stronger challenge from Intel's newly released Core microarchitecture. It does note, however, that AMD has recently enhanced the entire AMD64 product line with DDR support, and is currently transitioning to a 65nm production process.

According to In-Stat, AMD's acquisition of ATI faces "many challenges", but it is likely to have a major effect on the PC ecosystem, ranging from various CPU and GPU vendors, to semiconductor foundries.

The effects of the increased competition from Intel, and the acquisition of ATI, will likely not be determined for at least 12 months, In-Stat believes.

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