After a spectacular run, personal computer sales are expected to cool significantly this year. Ironically, that makes the market an even more important battleground for Intel and Advanced Micro Devices .
The rivalry in PCs between the two chip makers goes back decades. But it really started to pick up in 2018 after AMD began shipping processors fabricated on the most cutting-edge production lines at Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing , or TSMC. That gave AMD’s chips an edge compared with those from Intel, which had been struggling with updating its own production process. According to Mercury Research, AMD accounted for about 21% of the central processor chips sold for PCs in the third quarter of 2021—more than double its 8% market share just four years prior.
