AMD CPU and GPU marketshare may hit new low in Q1 2016

Since 2014, the marketshare of AMD in the discrete graphics card market has fallen off a cliff. Whereas the red team historically held about 35-40 percent of the market, its marketshare fell to a low of 18 percent in 2015. At the same time, AMD's lackluster processor lineup is doing pretty bad too.

DigiTimes heard rumors that the first quarter of 2016 will not be any better for AMD as the company is likely to suffer a record low marketshare in both markets. NVIDIA is eating AMD's lunch in the discrete GPU market and in the CPU market everyone is waiting anxiously to see if AMD's new Zen architecture can turn the tide.

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.

The first Polaris-based GPUs are expected to be introduced around mid-2016 and the first Zen-based processors are anticipated towards the end of the year.