Intel's stranglehold on the integrated graphics market is indisputable. They have long stood as the number one supplier for onboard GPUs, from desktops to laptops to servers. While there are other challenges, such as Via, little has been done to chip away at their market share. Enter AMD, who now is set to release two new chipsets including integrated graphics cores within the next nine months. The AMD 740/780 series will offer this, and given the warm reception that vendors have been willing to give AMD it seems probable that they will have success with it. Intel's embedded graphics won't be easy to overcome, but they are definitely no performance kings. Given the continued reduction in power each iteration of GPUs could potentially bring, AMD might be able to win not only on price, but performance. Their 780 series chipsets will include DirectX 10 compliant cores, among other goodies:
AMD 780-series core-logic will feature HyperTransport 3.0 bus for CPUs, PCI Express 2.0 x16 and x1 for add-on cards and DirectX 10-compliant graphics core with universal video decoder (UVD) engine as well as D-Sub, DVI, HDMI and DisplayPort outputs. The chipset will be released to mass production in Q1 2008 and mainboards on its based may feature new-generation SB700 I/O controller.
740G and the newer 780 series are expected in Q3 2007 and Q1 2008, respectively. Laptops and low-cost desktops are the primary targets for integrated graphics, so those will be the products to watch over the next year to see if AMD is able to make headroom.
It's entirely possible that AMD may push Intel to revolutionize their integrated GPUs, such as how the stunning success of the Athlon and Athlon64 pushed Intel to develop Core. This is nothing but good for the consumer.