攻守易勢:AMD銳龍芯片能否干翻英特爾?
在美國硅谷,針鋒相對地競爭的科技公司有不少對,而戰爭打得最持久的,當屬兩大芯片制造商英特爾和AMD。在5月下旬的臺北電腦展上,兩家公司的攻守之勢卻陡然生變。
之前幾十年,英特爾始終是臺式機處理器市場的龍頭老大,AMD只能扮演萬年老二的角色。這兩家公司都成立于20世紀60年代末,而且他們的創始人都來自于硅谷半導體行業的先驅企業——仙童半導體。半個世紀以來,兩家公司經常在法庭打官司打得難解難分,在快速發展的電腦處理器市場上更是惡斗不休。
5月26日,AMD公司的CEO蘇姿豐在臺北電腦展上發布了該公司的第三代銳龍微處理器,該產品是AMD從五年前開始研發的。蘇姿豐表示,第三代銳龍芯片基于AMD的“禪”架構開發,在公司的內測中,它的性能比英特爾的同等處理器高出16%以上。新一代銳龍芯片將于今年7月上市,售價500美元,只有英特爾的競爭產品的一半左右。
在2019年臺北電腦展上獨家發布銳龍家族的最新成員——12核/24線程的第三代AMD“禪”銳龍9 3900X處理器。https://t.co/OgLHoqWv9T pic.twitter.com/75FzfpdiKx
——AMD銳龍(@AMDRyzen) May 27, 2019
這幾年AMD的創新程度已經超過了英特爾。5月26日的發布會也讓一些華爾街分析師認為,AMD將有機會在PC處理器市場上搶到更大的份額。
由于銳龍芯片的市場反應喜人,到上個季度,AMD在CPU市場上的份額已經從去年的12%躍升至17%——這一定程度上也是因為英特爾的CPU處理器缺貨導致的。當然,市場的其余份額還是被英特爾所壟斷。不過如果新一代銳龍處理器的性能和價格果然如蘇姿豐所說,那么AMD必然會進一步搶占英特爾的市場份額。
Stifel Financial公司的分析師凱文·卡西迪于上周一在一份研究報告中表示:“這次發布會,表明AMD的CPU線程處理技術和性能在50年來首次超越了英特爾。我們認為,憑借高性能、低能耗、低成本和升級方便等優勢,AMD的市場份額增長將進一步加速。”
富國銀行的分析師亞倫·拉克斯也表示,蘇姿豐的發布會“強化了我們的積極觀點”,即AMD的銳龍芯片將在2019年下半年繼續擴大市場份額。
上周二市場開盤后,AMD的股價出現飆升,收盤上漲10%至每股29.03美元。與此同時,英特爾的股價下跌了2.2%,跌至每股43.57美元。AMD的股價繼續延續了去年的漲勢。去年一年,AMD的股票上漲了117%,而英特爾的股票則下跌了21%。(財富中文網) 譯者:樸成奎 |
Of all the bitter rivalries that have stoked competition in Silicon Valley, the longest-running battle belongs to chipmakers Intel and Advanced Micro Devices. At a computer conference in Taiwan at the end of May, the tech tug-of-war between the two companies underwent an intriguing twist.
For decades, Intel has typically dominated in the market for the processors that power desktop PCs, with AMD often forced to content itself with second place. The two companies were founded in the late 1960s by former engineers at Fairchild Semiconductor, an early Silicon Valley pioneer. Over the decades, they have clashed in courtrooms as well as the burgeoning market for desktop processors.
On May 26, AMD CEO Lisa Su took the stage at the Computex computer expo in Taipei to unveil the third generation of the company’s Ryzen microprocessor, which it began developing more than five years ago. Su said the new chips, based on AMD’s Zen architecture, outperformed a comparable processor from Intel by more than 16% in its internal tests. Come July, the new Ryzen chips will sell for $500, half the price of Intel’s competing offerings.
Here's an exclusive #COMPUTEX2019 look at the newest edition to the Ryzen family, the 12 core/24 thread 3rd Gen AMD Ryzen 9 3900X processor. https://t.co/OgLHoqWv9T pic.twitter.com/75FzfpdiKx
— AMD Ryzen (@AMDRyzen) May 27, 2019
AMD’s innovations have leapfrogged those at Intel in the past, but announcement on May 26 has some Wall Street analysts anticipating an opportunity for AMD to steal an even bigger share of the market for PC processors.
Ryzen chips have already helped AMD’s CPU market share to jump to 17% last quarter, up from 12% a year earlier (with Intel holding the remaining share), thanks in part to a shortage of CPU processors at Intel. If Ryzen delivers on price and performance as Su promised, it can eat further into Intel’s dominant share.
“This announcement represents the first time AMD has taken the desktop CPU lead process technology and performance lead from Intel in its 50-year history,” Stifel Financial analyst Kevin Cassidy said in a research note last Monday. “We expect AMD to accelerate its PC market share gains due to higher performance, lower power usage, lower cost and ease of upgrade.”
Another analyst, Aaron Rakers at Wells Fargo, said Su’s “presentation reinforced our positive thesis” that the Ryzen chips could sustain AMD’s market-share gains through the rest of 2019.
Once markets opened on last Tuesday, AMD’s stock surged, closing up 10% at $29.03 a share. Intel, meanwhile, saw its stock fall 2.2% to $43.57 a share. That extends AMD’s outperformance over the past year, during which AMD has risen 117% while Intel has fallen 21%. |