Intel’s share of chip market rises as AMD’s drops

Intel Corp. captured more than 80% of the computer-chip market in the first quarter while rival Advanced Micro Devices Inc. lost the headway it had made in 2006 and then some, industry data showed Tuesday.

Intel’s share of the $30-billion market for x86 processors that power most personal computers was 80.5% in the first quarter, according to Mercury Research, a market tracking firm whose data are closely watched by the industry. That represented a gain of more than 6 percentage points from the 74.4% Intel had in the fourth quarter.

Santa Clara, Calif.-based Intel’s gain came at the expense of Sunnyvale, Calif.-based AMD, which saw its share fall to less than 20% for the first time since 2005, Mercury said.