AMD strictly moderated (AMD)

[KeithDust2000]

AMD vendor-friendly product plan wins OEM support and market share

Yen Ting Chen, Taipei; Joseph Tsai, DigiTimes.com [Thursday 1 February 2007]

AMD has broken its market share record for the x86 processor market, with motherboard makers citing Mercury Research data as saying AMD's share rose to above 25% in the fourth quarter of last year.

The makers indicated increased orders and support from OEM vendors were a reason for the share increase, with the gains coming despite the fact AMD is currently trailing main competitor, Intel, in both manufacturing processing technology and performance.

Intel needs to revise its strategy to increase partner support, instead of relying on price cuts to buy back market share, the sources added.

The key to AMD's growing success has been its vendor-friendly product plan which allows for long product life-cycles enabling OEM and channel partners to develop clear long-term strategies based around AMD processors, the motherboard makers explained. This is opposed to Intel's strategy in which almost every successive technological advancement requires a complete platform refresh in order to support it, said the sources. Intel may have the lead in processing technology, having brought 65nm-based CPUs to market almost a year ahead of AMD, and with reported plans to move to 45nm around the end of 2007, but its frequently changing product lineup puts great pressure on motherboard makers' schedules, noted the sources.

AMD is planning to increase its shipping volume of 35W low energy consumption processors starting in the second quarter. These will include single-core Sempron series 3800+, 3600+, 3500+, 3400+ and dual-core Athlon 64 X2 series 4200+, 4000+, 3800+ parts, noted the sources.

http://www.digitimes.com/news/a20070201PD213.html

I´m going for the 35W X2 4200+.