AMD is losing market share to Nvidia in the discrete GPU market while falling further behind Intel in the PC processor field. AMD is likely to suffer from a record low share of both markets in the first quarter of 2016, according to industry sources.
Demand for standalone graphics cards has already been sluggish given a weak PC market, and the market for standalone grahics cards continues to decline. In the already-shrinking market, AMD's rival Nvidia has eaten away at its market share, the sources indicated.
AMD's discrete GPU market share has also been hurt by falling shipments of its own PC processors, the sources said.
In the PC processor market, AMD's gap behind Intel has widened. And it remains uncertain whetrher AMD's next-generation Zen architecture can help the company make a comeback, industry sources noted.
The Zen processor architecture will be introduced in high-end desktops like gaming PCs and servers, and the first Zen products are unlikely to arrive until the fourth quarter of 2016. Zen probably will not help AMD regain its PC share, but Intel may feel pressure when bargaining with PC firms, the sources said.
In the standalone GPU segment, AMD will have to ensure that the launch of its Polaris architecture will be on schedule, the sources suggested. Any delays of the launch or performance issues could interrupt its way to recovery, the sources said.
AMD expects shipments of Polaris architecture-based GPUs to begin in mid-2016.
AMD reportedly will use the 14nm LPP process from Samsung/Globalfoundries for its upcoming Zen CPUs and Polaris GPUs.
