X-bit labs

AMD’s 64-bit Chips Said to be in Shortage.

Category: CPU

by Anton Shilov

[ 08/25/2004 | 11:47 PM ]

As Advanced Micro Devices is ramping its AMD64 processors, it looks like the company cannot supply enough of such chips to the market, as Taiwanese web-site DigiTimes reports.

Tight supply of AMD Athlon 64 and AMD Athlon 64 FX-53 processors is now being experienced in Taiwan, China and Europe, a month after the company slashed pricing of its high-end microprocessors. The situation may challenge AMD’s ability to boost market share, source noted, though, the web-site did not elaborate on the numbers of AMD64 shipping into the market.

“Demand for our entire product line looks very good. This is particularly true of demand for AMD64, which is ramping very nicely. Any supply/demand balance issues that may exist are normal, temporary and workable,” an AMD representative said.

DigiTimes reports that AMD Taiwan said the parent company would be able to replenish the stocks in overseas markets within the next one to two weeks.

Market study for Q2 2004 released recently by Mercury Research claims that market leader Intel Corp. lost a little bit less that one percentage point of market share sequentially, while the world’s second largest manufacturer of microprocessors gained a half of a point during the second quarter. Intel now commands 82.7% of the market, while AMD occupied 15.5% of the market. The remaining 1.8% are held by smaller chip designers like VIA Technologies and Transmeta Corp..

Dean McCarron, principal analyst for Mercury Research, said there has been a big shift towards lower-end products in the second quarter, which was not a big surprise, as the market tended towards both lower sales and lower average prices in the second quarter. Market research firm believes that AMD’s market share gains should be attributed to the general trend towards low-cost microprocessors, the market where AMD has been always strong.