AMD moves into pole position

AMD struck new ground last month when it overtook market leader Intel as the leading supplier of processors for the

retail personal computer market, according to

market research firm

.

In October 2005, 49.8% of the personal computers (desktops and notebooks combined) sold in the US retail market used AMD processors, thus allowing AMD to narrowly surpass Intel, which accounted for 48.5% of the market.

AMD actually led Intel in the desktop category by a slight margin in the month of September as well; the company sustained growth in the category in October and, subsequently, extended its lead across the entire US retail PC category during the month.

Looking forward, one can expect that AMD will attempt to replicate its October success throughout the all-important holiday season. According to Matt Sargent, Director of Research at Current Analysis, “AMD did the unthinkable by surpassing Intel in October. Continuing to hold this lead in the holiday season would be a colossal win for the company.”

Despite the good news for AMD, the company’s October revenue share of retail PC sales (40.1%) trails that of Intel (57.6%) because the average selling price of Intel PCs is significantly higher than AMD PCs.