Advanced Micro Devices, the world’s second largest maker of x86 microprocessors, managed to increase its presence in the market of servers, market research firm Mercury Research indicated.

Three years after the introduction of AMD Opteron processors designed for servers and one year after AMD brought the world’s first x86 dual-core processors for servers into the market, AMD’s marker share in x86 server market increased to 22.1% in Q1 2006, up from 16.4% in the 2005 fourth quarter. While the information means that AMD managed to improve its gross margins, as server processors cost more than desktop chips, it also signifies that Intel Corp., the world’s largest supplier of server processors, lost part of its share in Q1 2006.

According to a recently released report from Mercury Research, AMD’s first quarter market share growth reflected substantial gains in the x86 server market and now represents 22.1%, a 26% increase over AMD’s share in the fourth quarter of 2005 and a 254%increase over the first quarter of 2005, the Sunnyvale, California-based chipmaker indicated.

“As confirmed by Mercury Research, this growth speaks volumes to the industry's rapid adoption of AMD Opteron processors with direct connectaArchitecture and HyperTransport technology, leaving little doubt that AMD is gaining presence as a strong player with staying power,” said Marty Seyer, senior vice president, commercial segment, AMD.

The AMD Opteron processor-based validated servers offered by Newisys, Supermicro Computer, Tyan Computer Corp. and Uniwide Technologies were unveiled this week at the AMD worldwide distributors conference in Dubai, and several will be on display today in AMD’s booth at Gartner IT ChannelVision Europe in Monte Carlo, according to the company.

“The superior performance-per-watt architecture of the AMD Opteron processor provides a compelling value proposition to the channel to meet the rigorous performance, power and cooling requirements of datacenters worldwide,” Mr. Seyer added.