AMD’s Q1 Server Gain Against Intel Was Largest Since 2006

The last time AMD saw such a large jump in server CPU shipments was when its server market share peaked in 2006 with Opteron, according to Mercury Research.

That’s according to the latest x86 CPU market share report from Mercury Research, which said that AMD’s server CPU share grew 1.8 points to 8.9 percent, reflecting the chipmaker’s report of strong EPYC sales and Intel’s decline in Data Center Group revenue for the first quarter.

Dean McCarron, president of Mercury Research, told CRN that AMD’s first-quarter server market share growth, its fastest since the second quarter of 2006, was one of the contributors to an increase in average selling prices for chipmaker.

The chipmaker saw its server CPU market share peak in 2006, going from around 5-7 percent to roughly 22 percent in only 18 months, as the chipmaker saw a massive ramp with its 64-bit Opteron processors, according to ExtremeTech.

Alexey Stolyar, CTO of International Computer Concepts, a Northbrook, Ill.-based system integrator, told CRN that he doesn’t think AMD will repeat its previous rise-and-fall trajectory with EPYC because of CEO Lisa Su’s strong leadership and vision for the company.

“I don’t think they had a clear vision last time,” he said.

While AMD saw a massive leap in server shipments and large increase in average selling prices, Intel continued to reverse AMD’s share growth in the overall x86 market for a second consecutive quarter, growing 1 point to 79.3 percent in the first quarter.

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