AMD vs INTEL: The Arch Rivals
AMD vs INTEL: The Arch Rivals
There is not a single industry where an arch rivalry doesn’t exist. It is these arch rivalries which either leads the growth in demand and increase in market size or hurt the respective market. Apple vs Samsung in Electronic Industry, Audi vs BMW in automobile industry, McDonalds vs Burger King in Fast food chain, Amazon vs Walmart in retail industry, the list is endless. One such rivalry exists between AMD vs Intel in the semiconductor industry. The rivalry is not new as it spans several decades.
Intel stands for “Integrated Circuit”. Intel Corporation is an American multinational corporation and technology company headquartered in Santa Clara, California, in Silicon Valley. It was invented by Robert Noyce in 1968. AMD stands for Advanced Micro Devices. It was founded in 1969 (just a year later than Intel), when co-founder Jerry Sanders was named as AMD’s first president and CEO. AMD established its headquarters in Sunnyvale, California. AMD has long been the “underdog” compared to the giant Intel. It is to be noted that AMD is far smaller when compared with the Intel. Although both Intel and AMD obviously launch a wide array of processors for different price points and target markets each year, only a few of them gains popularity globally. It is believed that AMD processors are quite favourable for the gaming purposes while Intel is favourable for Personal and business use. But this is not 100% true as many reports and research points towards a different direction. For example, in a Grand Theft Auto V “gaming performance showdown” using AMD’s FX-8370 and Intel’s Core i7 5960X, the Intel chip outpaced the AMD by “between 10–11% at stock and while overclocked.”
The one thing which differentiated both significantly is the price range they are available in. AMD is quite affordable when compared with Intel. The entry level processor of Intel is priced at the rate in which a good processor of AMD can be purchased. As of today, Intel dominates the 64% of market while Intel dominates the 36% market. In 2006, the rivalry deepened when AMD acquired ATI, a Graphics Processing Unit (GPU) manufacturer. This allowed AMD to deliver “GPUs that live on the same chip as the CPU.” Although this was something Intel could already do with its VLSI chips, it was a big step forward for AMD. These “integrated graphic cards” may result in “less graphical horsepower,” but they have lower heat output and power draw. This is an excellent competitive force in a market of portable devices.
As of today, Intel is dominating the processor market, but they are aware of the fact that AMD can also dominate them anytime. It would be interesting to see that who will dominate the market in near future, will Intel continue its dominance or AMD will shock the Intel by innovating something new. This rivalry is 50 years old and it looks like it will continue for a long-long time.
