Earlie,
From Saturday NY Times
January 23, 1999
Rival Gains on Intel With Cheaper Products
By BLOOMBERG NEWS
SANTA CLARA, Calif. -- The Intel Corporation's share of the microprocessor market fell to 75.7 percent in the fourth quarter as its rival, Advanced Micro Devices Inc., stole business with its cheaper products, a research firm said.
Market share for Intel, the No. 1 chip maker, slipped from 87.1 percent in the fourth quarter of 1997, according to preliminary numbers from the International Data Corporation. The Advanced Micro Devices share, meanwhile, rose to 15.5 percent, from 6.6 percent in the corresponding quarter a year earlier.
Intel has been hammered by Advanced Micro's low-priced chips, which were snapped up by PC makers looking to satisfy demand for cheap computers, especially those costing less than $1,000. Intel was late to that market, coming out with a slow Celeron chip in early 1998 and failing to introduce a faster version until later in the year.
"Intel was late," said Kelly Henry, an analyst with International Data. "They didn't see the sub-$1,000 PC coming."
Intel now has introduced faster Celeron processors and has cut prices aggressively. The company has said it intends to win back its share in the low end of the market. Advanced Micro's chips are found in more than half of PC's that cost less than $1,000.
"It's a huge pricing war at this point," Ms. Henry said.
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