A.M.D. Tries to Recapture Server Market Momentum
Ten months ago, Intel Corp. shipped its first quad-core Xeon server processors. Last week, chip nemesis Advanced Micro Devices Inc. finally answered back.
AMD took the first step in an effort to recapture its momentum in the server market by launching a quad-core version of its Opteron chip. Company officials hope the new device, which was code-named Barcelona, will have the same kind of business impact that the original Opterons did after being released into a world dominated by Intel’s 32-bit chips four years ago.
Opteron, the first x86 chip able to run both 32- and 64-bit applications, was an immediate hit with server vendors as well as businesses and high-performance computing users. Its arrival posed the biggest challenge yet to Intel’s dominance of the Windows server market.
But Intel has responded to that challenge — sending AMD’s share of the server chip market into retreat, according to research firm IDC.
In the second quarter of 2006, AMD-based systems accounted for 15.3% of x86 server shipments worldwide compared with 84.7% for machines with Intel chips, IDC said. But in the same quarter this year, AMD’s share slipped to 14% as measured by IDC, compared with 86% for Intel.
