A decade ago, the landscape of the x86 processor market was nowhere near as competitive as it is now. AMD really wasn't the force in the processor mar

Ten years under Dr Su: How AMD went from budget Intel alternative to x86 contender

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2024-11-27 16:30:16

A decade ago, the landscape of the x86 processor market was nowhere near as competitive as it is now. AMD really wasn't the force in the processor market it is known as today.

In early 2014, with Rory Read at the helm, it had been a while since AMD had tasted glory. By Read's departure, the last time the company posed a real threat to Intel was back in the early 2000s with its Athlon 64 processors. After that point, the company slowly slid into position as the budget alternative for users who either couldn't justify or afford Intel's pricing.

By 2014, AMD's primary core architecture for desktop chips was codenamed Piledriver, a Bulldozer successor, but the only thing they are really remembered for is being power hungry and underperforming – on The Reg we once joked they could double up as portable space heaters. As for Intel's Sandy and Ivy Bridge chips, they were a design triumph that led to Chipzilla winning then maintaining dominance over the whole x86 market without breaking a sweat. And it wasn't seeing much pushback from AMD, whose lackluster architecture allowed Intel to dictate the direction of the desktop market.

On top of this, AMD's revenues left a lot to be desired, its market share was even thinner, and it meant a long climb ahead if it wanted back in the game.

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