Intel Corp (INTC)

[Unkwn]

AMD announced 3rd Gen Ryzen and EPYC CPUs. Bottom line: Matches Intel Cores in single thread performance now and surpasses them in multithreading.

Also notable to me seems to be the improvements on the graphics side of things. A redesigned compute unit delivers much better performance/watt. That is certainly tweaked towards game consoles, where it is likely going to be included as integrated graphics, just like it was with PS4 and Xbox One, but it also brings AMD close to NVIDIAs performance. NVIDIA is a much tougher competitor than Intel, though.

Intel wants to compete in the graphics business, as you all know. I suppose this is mainly for the server business, where Intel failed (once more) with Xeon Phi. Let's see what they can do in short time in a business where AMD and NVIDIA fight with their teeth for decades already. Hiring some experts from the competition won't be sufficient I suppose.

One big advantage AMD has is the combination of CPU and GPU. They can tune their platforms toward specific high level applications, where CPU and GPU must work together at massive performance and scale. That's something Intel + NVIDIA will have a hard time at to match. Cloud gaming is an example, where AMD already had some high profile design wins.

Intel will need substantial architectural and semi process improvements soon to get back to the top. Server without high end graphics is going to be tough for them in the future. AMD has proven now that they can deliver highest performance cores and graphics for data centers across multiple generations. I bet a lot of data center companies are considering AMD these days. They'll get the highest performance CPU+GPU solution from a single provider.

AMD faced serious headwinds from the gaming consoles end of cycle and from the crypto crash. Consoles are going to be back by end of next year, with the release of the next console generation. That will also fuel demand on the PC side, where people will need to upgrade in order to play latest blockbuster titles at high settings (same happened with every new console generation). Crypto may still be weak but stuffed channels will recover and demand for gaming graphics cards will likely improve then as well. A lot to be gained for AMD.