Intel grabs CPU market share back from AMD for first time in 3 years

[midian182]

What just happened? We’ve been hearing for a while now that AMD is continuing to chip away at Intel’s dominance of the CPU market, but according to a new report, the trend reversed in Q4 when Chipzilla gained market share for the first time in three years.

Mercury Research’s results for the fourth quarter of 2020 show that AMD lost some of its x86 market share despite having a good year overall. In desktop, the company fell from 20.1 percent in the previous quarter to 19.3 percent.

AMD is unlikely to be too concerned about the findings. Its QoQ desktop CPU share might have been down 0.8 percent, but the Q4 result was still a full percentage point higher than the same period in 2019. Moreover, YoY revenue was up 50 percent—the company recorded record financial results last year.

As previous reports have shown, the PC industry is one of several to have been boosted by the pandemic and the resulting increase in those working from home: the x86 CPU market grew a massive 20.1 percent.

AMD’s decline is being blamed on the stock issues faced by its Ryzen 5000 processors. As with so many of the holiday season’s top tech items, demand has far outweighed supply, leaving many desperate consumers with the sole option of paying exorbitant prices on eBay if they want a Zen 3 CPU. Even some of the Ryzen 3000 line have been experiencing similar issues.

It was the same story in the laptop CPU market. AMD’s share fell 1.2 percent QoQ to 19 percent in the fourth quarter of last year, but that’s still 2.8 percent higher than in Q4 2019. Don’t be surprised if the recently revealed Ryzen 5000 mobile processors help it pull some of that lost share back.

Intel’s fortunes were helped by its improved supply of budget processors designed for devices such as Chromebooks. Its CPU shipments increased 33 percent in Q4, and with AMD admitting its shortages may last several more months, Intel could continue to pull ahead, especially with Rocket Lake set to launch in March.

Looking at the CPU market as a whole—including servers, the only area where AMD saw quarterly gains—AMD’s share declined 0.7 percent in Q4 to 21.7 percent. Compared to a year earlier, that’s still a 6.2 percent increase.

While Mercury Research’s report has AMD declining, the latest Steam Hardware Survey shows the company rebounding from a December dip and stealing 3 percent of Intel’s processor share last month.

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https://www.techspot.com/news/88507-intel-grabs-cpu-market-share-back-amd-first.html

 

[QuantumPhysics]

I don't really see this as a war. Intel is going to sell. AMD is going to sell.

Who's in the lead really doesn't matter.

 

[Uncle Al]

It's great for the consumer. The more they compete, the better off we are with improved chips, better prices, and the great competitive edge that drives the market place. Even Apple will come under this same watchful eye as they attempt to keep their newest chip superior to the others. It's a win/win for everyone ...

 

[Adi6293]

I recently switched to the 10850K from a 5800X, despite Intels massive power draw vs the Ryzen CPU my temperatures are much lower on a 360mm aio I'm using atm and gaming performance is basically on pair at 1440p plus I get extra 2 cores : -)

 

[punctualturn]

I guess everyone already forgot and has forgiven Intel for all their anticonsumer and anti-competitive crap they have pulled on us and the industry.

There is no hope.

 

[wiyosaya]

I guess everyone forgot and forgiven Intel for all their anticonsumer and anti-competitive crap they have pulled on us and the industry.

There is no hope.

That hardware addiction must be fed. It's a biotch when you are jonesing for a hardware fix. I guess that this just shows that people will do anything for their hardware fix.

 

[Irata]

I guess everyone forgot and forgiven Intel for all their anticonsumer and anti-competitive crap they have pulled on us and the industry.

There is no hope.

More like never cared in the first place.

 

[TheBigT42]

I finally got my hands on a Ryzen 7 5800x at MSRP. Should be delivered this week. Should be a nice improvement from my i7-4770K.

 

[wiyosaya]

I don't really see this as a war. Intel is going to sell. AMD is going to sell.

Who's in the lead really doesn't matter.

I cannot say I agree. Who is now commanding the price premiums for their CPUs? From my viewpoint, its AMD especially with Threadripper CPUs. I doubt parity will ever be reached. Sooner or later, Intel will come out, once again, with a CPU superior to AMDs, and Intel will command the premium price. However, I think it is great to have them duking it out as it keeps the market fresh.

 

[Adi6293]

I finally got my hands on a Ryzen 7 5800x at MSRP. Should be delivered this week. Should be a nice improvement from my i7-4770K.

I hope you have a good a cooler that CPU is hot!! I was reaching upto 85° on a Deepcool Castle RGB V2 360mm on average it was 74°

 

[mrtraver]

I contributed to that - I went with an i3 for a non-gaming build because I could not find a Ryzen with integrated graphics available at a reasonable price.

 

[poohbear]

It's incredible that there's only 2 foundry companies for all the demand...Samsung & Taiwan semi.

 

[grumblguts]

Who in their right mind would consider a intel when they can buy ryzen

 

[callmesissi]

I finally got my hands on a Ryzen 7 5800x at MSRP. Should be delivered this week. Should be a nice improvement from my i7-4770K.

I also have the i7 4770 just like you. please tell me if its worth it to upgrade (real life, no benchmarks) I do casual gaming only. Also congrats on your new rig, so far I am still happy with my 4770 BUT would love real feedback from another user upgrading to ryzen. Thank you in advance.

 

[nodfor]

I guess everyone forgot and forgiven Intel for all their anticonsumer and anti-competitive crap they have pulled on us and the industry.

There is no hope.

Thankfully we now have consumer friendly AMD in the lead, charging only about 50% more for an 8 core

 

[Lew Zealand]

Who in their right mind would consider a intel when they can buy ryzen

Lots of people when Intel is much cheaper. I can buy a i5 10600KF for $211 or a R5 5600X for $380. Hmm, which would the average user buy...

I want to buy an R5 5600X as I have a Mobo which can take it (currently w/R5 2600), but I'm sure as hell not buying for $380. I'll putter along with my entirely still good enough i5 8400 for a while longer 'til the dust settles.

 

[TheBigT42]

I hope you have a good a cooler that CPU is hot!! I was reaching upto 85° on a Deepcool Castle RGB V2 360mm on average it was 74°

I think a Noctua NH-U12A can do the job.

 

[punctualturn]

Thankfully we now have consumer friendly AMD in the lead, charging only about 50% more for an 8 core

That simply shows you how deep intel was on our collectives "behind" that magically, they now have affordable 8 cores cpus....

 

[mrtraver]

Who in their right mind would consider a intel when they can buy ryzen

That's the key - people cannot buy Ryzen. When I was building in November-December, most were out of stock, and when they did become available they cost more than the i3 CPU and motherboard combined. Even then they sold out within minutes.

 

[aryehsapir]

It's incredible that there's only 2 foundry companies for all the demand...Samsung & Taiwan semi.

Have a look at the graph from: https://wccftech.com/samsung-fourth-place-matured-nodes-2021/

 

[Burty117]

I recently switched to the 10850K from a 5800X, despite Intels massive power draw vs the Ryzen CPU my temperatures are much lower on a 360mm aio I'm using atm and gaming performance is basically on pair at 1440p plus I get extra 2 cores : -)

I have to ask but why did you switch?

Also, I think you're forgetting you now have zero upgrade path, you lost PCI-E4.0 capabilities, seems like a weird switch to make.

 

[nodfor]

That simply shows you how deep intel was on our collectives "behind" that magically, they now have affordable 8 cores cpus....

So, your argument is that you will buy from a company that is raising prices nowadays because it's competitor kept prices stagnant for years, before slashing them. Doesn't make much sense.

 

[Theinsanegamer]

I guess everyone forgot and forgiven Intel for all their anticonsumer and anti-competitive crap they have pulled on us and the industry.

There is no hope.

It's mcuh better to hold intel as guilty of orginal sin, beyond redemption, written off forever, and blindly buy AMD forever, because THATS how you build a healthy market.

I have to ask but why did you switch?

Also, I think you're forgetting you now have zero upgrade path, you lost PCI-E4.0 capabilities, seems like a weird switch to make.

PCIe 4.0 is useless for GPUs right now, and the speed differenc ebetween a samsung 950 pro and a 980 pro for things like loading games is non existent. And the irony of calling LGA1200 a zero upgrade path socket, when rocket lake with PCIe 4.0 is coming, while praising the opposite for the 5800x, which is on socket AM4, which is at the end of life and will be replaced with socket AM5 for the next generation, just......cmon man, think a little bit here.

Who in their right mind would consider a intel when they can buy ryzen

Well, if you are in the 95%+ of gamers that play games at 60 FPS, there is literally 0 difference between AMD and intel, as even the 4770k can maintain a 60FPS 1% low in modern games. Unless you are doing heavy production apps or heavy video editing, it makes much more sense to buy what is in stock and cheaper.

Guess what is not only not in stock but substantially more expensive? Right, AMD. And as AMD supporters have been parroting ever sincethe 3000 series released "well the performance is close enough it doesnt matter". That still applies, the 5000 series is a bit faster in games, if you use a 6800xt/6900xt at 1080p. Otherwise, you'll always be GPU limited. Techspot dida review looking at various chips and found 0 difference at 60 FPS, and even when pushing high refresh rate gaming your GPU is going to be the limit 99% of the time.

Given that, a 10600k at $220 makes a lot more sense then a 5600x at $300, or the $380 its actually going for. And you can actually BUY the intel chip right now.

 

[neeyik]

It's incredible that there's only 2 foundry companies for all the demand...Samsung & Taiwan semi.

There are others, but not for the CPUs (although Intel makes their own) and GPUs that we used. DRAM is mostly made by Samsung, Micron, Nanya, and SK Hynix; NAND flash by Samsung, Micron, and Kioxia. And there's the likes of GlobalFoundries, Texas Instruments, and UMC, plus numerous others for other electronic components.

TSMC stands out because they started off as just a semiconductor foundry, over 30 years ago, and they've done nothing but fabrication. And they've spent huge sums of money on R&D and expansion: investments that could have gone badly wrong, but obviously has worked out well for them.

I'm sure plenty of companies have considered how to take some of TSMC's business away from them, but given the construction cost of a 30k wafer plant and all the licence fees to pay for the various libraries, there's not many who could draw down that kind of investment and even fewer with the capital to do so directly.

 

[Lionvibez]

I was able to find a 5800X for $650 CAD. I had to watch the computer store close to my place like a hawk for a couple days because they kept playing with the price. When I first looked it was $800. When they dropped price I went in and grabbed the last one in store. By the following day the price was up to $669.

I then sold my 3800X for $400 so cost to upgrade was $250. Anyone placing orders and waiting for shipping well good luck.

I recently switched to the 10850K from a 5800X, despite Intels massive power draw vs the Ryzen CPU my temperatures are much lower on a 360mm aio I'm using atm and gaming performance is basically on pair at 1440p plus I get extra 2 cores : -)

What are your temps and what AIO are you using. I'm on a Corsair H150i Pro and in Aida 64 when I run the stress tess with AVX on, max temp for me is around 77c.

From Anandtech the 10850K uses alot more power. And based on their review they are about equal in MT so those 2 extra cores doesn't provide much benefit over the 5800X



Full review here.

And yes the focus of the review is the 10700 but it has both processors dicussed here and its recent so I choose this instead of linking a 3 month old review.

Intel Core i7-10700 vs Core i7-10700K Review: Is 65W Comet Lake an Option?

www.anandtech.com