According to a research, Intel lost a slight amount of market share in the second quarter, as consumers favored AMD's low-cost PC chips. Intel's share fell by eight-tenths of a percentage point in the quarter ended June 30 to 82.7 percent, compared with the first quarter, according to Mercury Research. AMD, on the other hand, rose a half a point to 15.5 percent. The remaining 1.8 percent of the market went to Via Technologies and Transmeta.

AMD stole a bit of Intel's market because "ultimately, that's the only place it could come from," Mercury analyst Dean McCarron said. In general, AMD has been getting stronger, making "minor gains" in the last two quarters, McCarron said.

Right now, the market is favoring low-cost PC chips, such as Intel's lower-speed Pentium 4s and AMD's Athlon XPs, giving the latter company an edge in systems sold to emerging markets such as China, Eastern Europe and India.

Source: TechWeb News