It was already visible in the quarterly reports from AMD and Intel, now it's in black and white: desktop CPUs are selling poorly. So much so that analysts believe it was the largest percentage drop in decades, or on record since 1993.
The decline in sales of desktop processors in the first quarter of 2022 was more than 30 percent compared to the previous three-month period. AMD and Intel lost similar amounts, but AMD slightly less. On a global scale, this has hardly been reflected in the market shares in the desktop area. Compared to the previous year, Intel is still up slightly by 1.1 percentage points, while AMD gave up this share. Compared to the previous fourth quarter of 2021, however, the picture is different, AMD won and Intel lost here.
Falling entry-level market
< p class="p text-width">Mercury Research sees the weaknesses primarily in the entry-level market. AMD is not as present in this, so the impact on Intel is significantly greater. Intel had already stated in the quarterly report that the desktop business had given way, but also with notebooks. Here, in turn, the significant drop in sales was offset by much higher average prices for new Alder Lake processors. At AMD, too, the first sales of Rembrandt alias Ryzen 6000 are said to have contributed to a positive development. According to Mercury Research, AMD was therefore able to nibble away market shares from Intel again in the notebook.
Tedious wrestling in the server
In the server segment, it's ultimately the same game as it has been for three years: AMD wins, Intel loses. Intel's blatant weakness in delivering products according to a planned roadmap is something that AMD can always exploit a little more. AMD will also have welcomed the delay of Sapphire Rapids with satisfaction. AMD should continue to grow in this segment in the coming months. As usual, however, applies to the server area: The squirrel feeds itself with difficulty, it takes an extremely long time before changes in market shares become visible here.
Overall CPU Market Share: AMD Wins
The overall result is impressive, especially for AMD. The gain in market share within one year is 7 percentage points to 27.7 percent in this extraordinary first quarter.
Q1/2022 change
to Q4/2021 change
yoy Desktop 18.3% + 2.1 PP – 1, 0 PP Notebook 22.5% + 0.9 PP + 4.4 PP Server 11.6% + 0.9 PP + 2.7 PP Total (incl SoC & IoT) 27.7% + 2.1 PP + 7.0 PP Mercury Research data, PP = percentage points
At Intel, the development is going in the opposite direction. In the desktop, thanks to strong products, you can win again over AMD. Despite losses in almost every area, Intel's dominance is still serious.
Q1/2022 change
compared to Q4/2021
Year-Year Change Desktop 81.7% – 2.1PP + 1.1PP Notebook 77.5% – 0.9PP – 4.4PP Server 88.4% – 0.9PP – 2.7 PP Total (incl SoC & IoT) 72.3% – 2.1 PP – 7.0 PP Data from Mercury Research, PP = percentage points
The fact that the total market share at AMD is ultimately higher than the sum of the three large parts is due to the IoT and SoC sectors are not included in it. All console chips run in the SoC segment, which ultimately significantly expand AMD's market share for all x86 chips shipped and subtract them accordingly from Intel's market shares in the overall market.