The latest x86 CPU market share statistics have been shared by AMD, showcasing its ongoing Zen momentum with its Ryzen and EPYC processors during the fourth quarter of 2019. The numbers have been shared by the PR agency, Mercury Research, for the first full quarter of 7nm availability by AMD in desktop and server CPU segments.
AMD Q4 2019 CPU Market Share Results Show Nominal Increases In Server & Desktop Segments, Mobility Gains A Major Chunk
Q4 was the first full quarter of AMD's 7nm product portfolio availability in the Ryzen and EPYC CPU segments. According to the data, the server and desktop segments witnessed a nominal increase in market share while mobility gained a big. The segment-specific market share excludes the IoT (Internet of Things) sales so we will be focusing on three markets in specific, server, desktop and mobile.
"Desktop CPUs were up due to strong high-end gaming CPU demand, and also because Intel improved entry-level CPU supply during the quarter. AMD had very strong growth in the "Matisse" core Ryzen 3000 series, and in addition to the improved entry-level supply Intel had strong growth in i9. Much of the growth for both AMD and Intel happened at the very very top of the market for CPUs with the highest core counts."
"Thanks to the strength of powerful new processors launched in Q4, like the Ryzen 9 3950X and the 3rd generation Threadripper family, desktop, excluding IoT, also increased, with AMD share moving up 0.3 share points quarter over quarter, and 2.4 share points year over year, hitting 18.3%."
"The ramp of 2nd generation EPYC processors, launched mid-2019, has been significantly faster than 1st generation, thanks to performance and TCO advantages over the competition. This in turn has helped drive share gains for AMD server, excluding IoT, of 0.2 share points quarter over quarter, and 1.4 share points year over year, hitting 4.5%."
"The mobile market was weaker, but saw growth at the top like desktop CPUs. Gaming was big for notebooks as well,"
- Dean McCarron (Mercury Research)
AMD Server 'EPYC' CPU Market Share
Looking at the data, the server CPU segment which consists of AMD's EPYC and EPYC Embedded chips hit a market share of 4.5%. This is a 0.2% growth from the previous quarter (Q3 2019) and a 1.4% growth from the previous year (Q4 2018). The last time AMD hit this high of a share in the server segment was back in Q3 2013, marking the latest figures a 7 year high for team red. AMD has already stated that they are committed to hitting a double-digit market share in the server segment by the Q2 of 2020.
Our first generation of EPYC was called Naples, and just this August, we launched our 2nd Generation, codenamed Rome. We're at about 7% share today Tim, if you look at the IDC TAM of about 20 million units.
We also are -- it’s our goal over time to get back to the historical levels which was 26%. But before we have credibility in such an aspirational goal, we need to get to double-digit share first. So, our target is to get to 10% share by the second quarter of 2020.
Ruth Cotter, SVP of Worldwide Marketing, HR & IR at AMD - Seeking Alpha
It's possible that AMD has secured some major deals with HPC / Datacenter customers that they will be unveiling in the upcoming months. That could definitely turn the tide for AMD and help them secure a double-digit market share against Intel's mammoth 95% market share (as of now). We know that the Big Red 200 Supercomputer which is being deployed this summer is one of the major customers of AMD's EPYC processors.
AMD Desktop 'Ryzen & Threadripper' CPU Market Share
Coming to the desktop results, AMD's lineup which consists of 7nm Ryzen & Ryzen Threadripper CPUs boosted by 2.4% in Q4 2019. That's a 0.3% growth from the previous quarter (Q3 2019) and a 2.4% growth from the previous year (Q4 2018). Once again, the 18.3% desktop CPU market share is a 6 year high for team red. It's quite impressive since 6 years back, AMD was still selling its older Buldozer revisions and to make a turn around from that is a story in itself.
This result is particularly interesting since AMD's entire desktop family was switched to the brand new 7nm process node and the new Zen 2 core architecture. The 3rd Gen AMD Ryzen and Ryzen Threadripper CPUs have been available for a while now and hence we have seen a small but still significant increase in market share despite the various CPU shortages in the high-end spectrum.
We have seen that the channel inventory improved by the end of 2019 with a full revival happening in January of 2020. Currently, we have seen astonishing figures of AMD Ryzen CPU sales in the DIY segment and the past two months have been seriously impressive for team red. With the supply returning to normal, many retailers have started offering discounts and various deals on existing and older Ryzen CPUs which should definitely drive up the sales figures for AMD's desktop CPU segment in the coming months.
There's no doubt that AMD can hit or even exceed 20% desktop CPU market share by the first quarter of 2020 and push it even further by the end of 2020 with a more powerful Ryzen family featuring the enhanced Zen 3 core architecture that is going to deliver major advancements in IPC over Zen 2. Intel's 10th Generation desktop processors codenamed Comet Lake-S also won't be a major threat to AMD's Ryzen lineup since they are based on the same architecture and the same process node albeit with a few clocks and core configuration updates.
AMD Mobile 'Ryzen' CPU Market Share
Coming to the mobility segment, this is where AMD reported its biggest increase in market share. A 4.0% increase from the previous year (Q4 2018) and a 1.5% increase from the previous quarter (Q3 2019). This market share is a 7 year high with AMD hitting a mobility share this high all the way back in Q2 2013. The strong figure is without a doubt due to the refined Ryzen 3000 mobility lineup which made its way into the market and resulted in strong holiday season sales.
But here's the thing, Ryzen 3000 was a small refresh of the Ryzen 2000 mobility lineup and with 7nm Zen 2 based Ryzen 4000 on the horizon which offers desktop tier performance and absolutely powerful and enhanced Vega graphics, we can only expect these figures to climb up past 20% within a single quarter.
With Intel's CPU shortages persisting through the end of 2020, as reported by DigiTimes, and AMD also introducing entry-level Athlon APUs such as the Athlon Silver 3050U and the Athon Gold 3150U for Chromebooks alongside the high-end Ryzen based Renoir lineup, it is likely that more OEMs would adopt AMD CPUs over Intel's to boost up their mobility/laptop revenue, resulting in a big win for AMD in 2020 in the notebook sector.
Lastly, AMD's client CPU server market which is OEM PCs resulted in a 1.1% share increase from the previous quarter and a 3.5% increase from the previous year, boosting it to 17.0%. To sum it all up, AMD's overall x86 CPU market share stands at 15.5% which includes three years of continuous dominance by Ryzen and EPYC CPUs in their respective markets. With that said, it looks like AMD's currently sitting at a 5% annual overall x86 market share growth which means that if they are able to maintain it in the year's ahead, they are likely to hit 50% overall market share by 2025-2026, but it could also happen much earlier as Intel is clearly lacking in every single department as of right now.
