Mercury Research: AMD's share of x86 client CPU shipments tops 30% for the first time, hitting 30.3% in Q2, up from 21.1% in Q2 2024, below Intel's 69.7% share
For the first time, AMD's share of the x86 client CPU market, covering both mobile and desktop, has crossed 30% …
Context & Ripple Effects
AMD’s client-share milestone extends a multi-year climb: it reached 22.4% of overall x86 share in 2020, then surpassed its prior 2006 share record in late 2021. The newer result also follows strong desktop and mobile share gains recorded in 2024.
The significance is relative as well as absolute: AMD’s 30.3% client shipment share leaves Intel at 69.7%, narrowing a gap that had long defined the x86 PC processor market. The same Mercury Research release was widely picked up across PC trade publications, underscoring its relevance as a market benchmark.
First-order effects
- AMD enters the quarter with more than three in 10 x86 client CPU shipments, while Intel’s share falls below seven in 10; the competitive baseline for both vendors has shifted.
- AMD’s gain is especially notable against the earlier industry-wide x86 shipment contraction, showing its share recovery has persisted through a weaker PC demand environment.
Second-order effects
- Intel faces greater pressure to defend client-CPU volumes and product positioning as AMD’s share gains span both desktop and mobile, rather than being confined to one PC segment.
- For AMD, a larger shipment base makes client CPUs a more consequential counterweight to its other growth priorities, while making quarter-to-quarter PC demand swings more material to its mix.
Third-order effects
- If AMD sustains gains across desktop and mobile, the x86 client market moves further from Intel-led concentration toward a more evenly contested two-supplier structure.
- That shift would make execution in mainstream PC processors—not only demand for the overall PC market—a larger determinant of each company’s client-chip position.
The trend: The x86 PC processor market is becoming less concentrated as AMD converts repeated share gains across client segments into a more durable challenge to Intel’s lead.