http://arstechnica.com/news/posts/1083689661.html Research firm Current Analysis has said that AMD outpaced Intel in desktop CPUs sales for the week ending April 24. That week AMD accounted for 52% of desktop CPU sales, marking what is believed to be the first time the AMD has outsold Intel in a retail channel, all without the help of Dell.
Intel still controls the overall market, especially among notebooks, the fastest-growing segment of the PC market. Sixty-one percent of all PCs sold during the week ending April 24 came with Intel processors, and 81 percent of notebooks sold that week were powered by Intel processors, Duboise says. Desktop sales account for 60 percent of the overall PC market, and AMD has made its greatest strides against Intel in that category, the analyst notes. PC companies such as Hewlett-Packard have started to sell more AMD PCs at retail.
While a week's worth of stats shouldn't be overemphasized, the numbers have caught many by surprise and they reveal a stronger AMD than some expected. One clear area of growth is in the higher-end PC market. While AMD has been strong for years in the bargain basement department, they've needed the big OEMs to help them pitch their wares to middle- and high-end desktop markets. HP seems to be doing quite well with this, and AMD is happy to oblige. Maybe Ruiz was right? Senor Dell, I think your customers are calling on Line 1.
On the other hand, AMD may be seeing strong sales on account of Intel's own customers. With Grantsdale just around the corner this quarter, some have argued that Intel is currently experiencing a lull in product demand as customers wait for the juice to be let loose in the form of PCI-Express, DDR2, and improved wireless support.