PM Forum - Q3/2003: Part 2

3. Intel and AMD are the two largest PC processor companies in the world. How do you see each company’s position in the industry moving forward?

PM #1:

There is no doubt Intel is a leading company among processor companies, I also think sooner or later Intel will migrate the desktop processor to 64 bit computing to compete with AMD64.
AMD might gain some market share from Intel next year with AMD64, but it takes times to catch up Intel.

PM #2: AMD will co-exist with Intel and continue to remain a small player. The only question is how small will AMD be?

PM #3: Intel still dominates the overall market with all of its marketing power. AMD is only good at some of the particular markets.

PM #4:

Intel will still gain the moment with its excellent strategy.
AMD will stock in the pool of lacking strong new technology for the user that seek for better performance from AMD.

PM #5:

Intel is definitely the leader for the PC processor market.
But AMD has their own market share because they always provide the better price/performance processor.

PM #6:

Intel: Excellent manufactory ability and technology leader.
AMD: Not solid planning in new generation CPU.

PM #7: The portion of AMD & Intel CPU market shares might keep the same ratio in the near future. But Intel has better chance to get stronger.

PM #8:

Intel is the largest semiconductor company in the world, as well as a developer, and they have been executing very well in the past years. We still see Intel as the dominant solution provider in the PC industry, and it strongly, continuously, owns the position.
People see AMD as the best cost/performance solution provider in the market. However, by introducing the new K8 family (Opteron, Athlon64FX, AThlon64), AMD should be able to extend their business into the next level.

PM #9: I believe Intel will remain dominant in the foreseeing years, while AMD has to fighting hard for surviving, even with the Athlon64.

PM #10: In the long run, we believe both AMD and Intel will enjoy the benefits from different target markets. Intel will still occupy the major consumer PC market, but AMD will use its newest AMD 64 / Opteron CPU to win more niche markets such as gamer/server market.

PM #11:

For the desktop market share: Intel 80~85%, AMD15~20%
AMD will move forward to server and IA market more aggressively

PM #12: Intel will likely gain market share into the server chipset segment with their ability to offer a wide variety of products for that type of customer, even though other providers still hold a responsibility to many of the larger tier1 OEMs. Intel will still continue to hold a good share of the workstation market, although it is possible that AMD may also take some share especially with the support from third party vendors such as NVIDIA who can help to offer upcoming technologies such as PCI Express. In the desktop processor market, Intel will still have sizeable control, although they are likely to be sharing the market with AMD still.

The feedback is basically unanimous on the Intel front. The large success of the Pentium 4, Centrino technology, and a good marketing strategy are only the latest reasons to assume that Intel will be around for a good deal of time. The mainstream market is going to be largely Intel saturated, but we may see something happen with the Athlon64. One of the product managers offered a bleaker perspective into AMD’s future, “AMD will co-exist with Intel and continue to remain a small player. The only question is how small will AMD be?”

We at AnandTech see the co-existence of AMD and Intel to be ultimately important for consumers and the market at hand. A viable alternative to any product can only bring better prices and better products, because it doesn’t leave either side complacent. AMD will no doubt try and push forward their products in the market, but how the length of their opportunity window will depend on the availability and ability of their upcoming products. The good news is that AMD’s market perception is not viewed as based on a poor market strategy or that they have a poor product. Instead, AMD’s market perception is mainly seen as the by-product for the hold out over the next generation and [for the moment] the competition’s better product. Additionally, AMD has a good sized market base for their own niche market, which they can use to propel the introduction and adoption of their next generation products.