One Third of Processor Market Belongs to AMD

According to a recent analyst report, Advanced Micro Devices Inc has taken a significant portion of the central processor unit market, accounting for nearly one-third of the market share. Meanwhile, British chip technology company Arm Ltd has seen a slowdown in its rise in the PC market during Q4 of 2022. AMD has gained market share from Intel Corp, which still dominates the market for x86 processors that are compatible with popular operating systems such as Windows from Microsoft Corp. Intel holds 68.7% of the market share for x86 processors, while AMD's market share has increased to 31.3% from 28.5% in the previous year.

The slowdown in the PC chip market has been described by Mercury Research President Dean McCarron as the worst downturn in the industry since the 1980s and possibly the worst in history. Consumers and businesses have reduced their purchases due to rising inflation and economic uncertainty, after a surge in demand for PCs and laptops during the pandemic. However, the slowdown has impacted AMD and Intel differently. While AMD exceeded Wall Street sales expectations, Intel has admitted to struggling against its rival, leading to broad employee pay cuts.

The decline in PC sales has also impacted Apple Inc's Mac computer lineup, which is the primary source of sales for Arm-based PC chips. Mercury reported that Arm PC chips, including those from Apple and Qualcomm, now hold 13.3% of the market share for PC chips, down from 14.6% in the previous quarter but still up from 10.3% in the previous year.

Arm, which is owned by Softbank Group Corp of Japan, licenses its technology to companies such as Apple and Qualcomm for use in PC chips, and has made expanding into new markets, such as PCs, a key part of its sales growth strategy ahead of its expected initial public offering later this year.