AMD and Nvidia Overtake Intel in Key Markets, Challenging Its Leadership

U.S. Chips Act beneficiary Intel Corp’s (NASDAQ: INTC ) crisis appears to be worse than expected, as companies ranging from Nvidia Corp (NASDAQ: NVDA ) and smaller rivals, erstwhile partners like Microsoft Corp (NASDAQ: MSFT ) rush to nab Intel’s market share that is critical for its profitability.

Intel stock plunged 58% in the last 12 months as it failed to capitalize on the budding market of new kinds of computing and new applications for chips, the Wall Street Journal cited Doug O’Laughlin of SemiAnalysis.

Advanced Micro Devices, Inc (NASDAQ: AMD ) surpassed Intel’s data center chip revenue in the last quarter, marking a reversal from 2022 when Intel’s data center revenue was three times that of AMD.

Also Read: Nvidia and Intel Competition Threaten AMD’s Growth, Analyst Says

AMD emerged as a nemesis, snatching Intel’s moat in the advanced general-purpose chips business, dubbed central processing units.

Another stroke of bad luck for Intel was its failure to tap the burgeoning data centers chip market or the graphics processing unit market, which catapulted Nvidia to the trillion-dollar valuation.

Notably, Intel still has about 75% of the market for CPUs that go into data centers which sharply contradicts the company’s share of revenue from data center chips.

Many companies, including Amazon.Com Inc (NASDAQ: AMZN ), Microsoft, and Alphabet Inc (NASDAQ: GOOG ) (NASDAQ: GOOGL ) Google remains aggressively invested in building out new data centers are bypassing Intel’s proprietary architecture chips, dubbed x86, and are instead using a combination of an Arm Holdings plc (NASDAQ: ARM ) architecture and their in-house chip designs.

ARM-based chips are increasingly taking center stage in Nvidia’s current-generation AI systems. ARM-based laptops running Windows struck gold in 2024 courtesy of Microsoft’s collaboration with ARM. This prompting has led to other companies porting their software and creating tools that allow programs to run on the new laptops.

Intel also lost out on the PC gaming market to AMD. A spokeswoman for Intel told the WSJ the company is focused on its product portfolio, manufacturing, and foundry capabilities.

Intel is currently seeking a permanent chief after the chipmaker fired veteran CEO Pat Gelsinger in December. His turnaround efforts, including competing with Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (NYSE: TSM ), failed to impress the board.

Let us take a look at some positive aspects of Intel. The decades that developers dedicated to software for Intel’s chips bear testimony to its moat despite shrinking market share, potentially limiting its dwindling market share.