AMD (acronym for Advanced Micro Devices) and Intel (contraction of Integrated Electronics) are two companies upfront in the battle of Processor Supremacy. Intel is primarily known for the microprocessors offered by them for various work environments ranging from Personal Computers (PC) to Workstations. Whereas, AMD is known for their Computer Processors as well as their Graphics Processing Units (GPU’s). The ongoing battle between the two competitors has been on for decades. In this article we will set a comparison between the two Titans. Before doing so a brief description about the two would be offered.
Intel
Founded in 1968, Intel Corporation is a Technology Company based in California, Silicon Valley. The initial goals of the company were towards the semiconductor memory market, but later they transitioned over to microprocessors. In the year 1971, the company created the first commercially available microprocessor named Intel 4004. This marked an evolution in Technology, as the microprocessor was a miniaturised version of a CPU, which could perform processing at a small size. This was a notable improvement back then as prior to Intel 4004, only large Computers were capable of performing such calculations.
Since then, the company’s principal focus has been to create up-par microprocessors. These microprocessors generally belong to a family, where a family is a line of Processors which share a similar microarchitecture. Some of the Intel microarchitecture family names are Net Burst, Kaby Lake, Broadwell, Haswell etc. Where the primary emphasis of the company’s product line is on microprocessors. The company has also started to manufacture varying tech products, such as Wearable Tech Fashion, Solid State Drives (SSDs), Super Computers, Content Protection Software etc. The company is the largest microprocessor manufacturing company in the world (based on revenue).
AMD
Founded in 1969, Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. is a semiconductor company based in California, Silicon Valley. The company is known for its work in the computer processors and technologies related to it. The company is the second largest microprocessor manufacturing company in the world (based on revenue). Initially the company focused on designing logic and RAM chips, but transitioned over to the microprocessor market by 1975 with the release of its first microprocessor named Am9080. The processor was a reverse engineered clone of Intel 8080. Later AMD became a second-source manufacturer of Intel’s x86 microprocessors and related chips. In 1991, AMD came up with its first AMD-Designed chip named Am386, which made it a competitor of Intel.
Since then, the company became one of the largest manufacturers of computer processors in the market. Alike Intel, AMD also uses a micro architectural family name denoting similar processors. Some of the AMD micro architectural family names are Ryzen 3, Thread ripper, Athlon, A8 etc. AMD is also known for the Graphic Processing Units (GPUs) offered by the company, which is the result of its acquisition of ATI Technologies Inc., a company specializing in development of Graphical Chipsets (acquisition happened in 2006).
AMD vs Intel
| Basis | Intel | AMD |
| Market Share | 60.2% of overall CPU market share (as of 2021) | 39.8% of overall CPU market share (as of 2021) |
| Price | CPU’s offered are generally expensive. | CPUs (as well as GPU’s) offered, range from economical (for budget friendly customers) all the way to expensive (for elitists) |
| Performance | Intel CPU excels in application that require high per core performance | AMD CPU excels in productivity applications which empathises multithreading (Video Editing, Multitasking etc.) |
| Reach | Intel CPUs are the default choice for Server and Laptop owners. Desktop CPUs are also up-par (in popularity) to their AMD counterparts. | AMD CPUs are prominent in Desktop CPU market |
| Power Consumption | Generally, lower power consumption | CPUs take more power (in contrast to equivalent Intel counterparts) |