AMD Aiming to Control Third of Market

AMD debuted a new notebook chip Thursday, as well as saying it would supply one-third of the processor market by 2008. The Sunnyvale, Calif.-based chipmaker is looking to increase its market share after a solid 2005 where it began to chip away at rival Intel's dominance.

Intel is not taking the claim sitting down, however, and introduced new lines of chips aimed at maintaining its strong position in the industry. AMD is challenging Intel both with its LIVE! Initiative, and the new laptop chips.

Based on a new design that increases battery life in laptops, the new processors are expected in 2007. Analysts and investors are likely to welcome the move, as AMD's offerings in the mobile space have long been seen as inferior to those from Intel.

The company appears to be turning the tide as it revamps its portable chip lineup. Third-party research showed that AMD's share of the market increased five percentage points to 21.9 percent in the first quarter of this year.

From there, AMD hopes to increase that share to a third within 18 months. The company said at its Technology Day event that it is ready to serve a market of that size. Additionally, it will spend several billion dollars to upgrade its German processor manufacturing facilities.

Sure to help the company is its recent deal with Dell. But it is unclear whether or not that partnership, which involves AMD's server chips, would eventually extend to the computer maker's consumer desktop and laptop systems.