In recent years, the landscape of the China’s CPU market is undergoing significant changes. Leveraging its strong product lineup, AMD has gradually eroded Intel’s long-held dominance. The latest data shows that AMD’s market share in China has climbed to 50%, while Intel’s sales performance continues to be sluggish. This 50% figure marks a quiet shift in the competitive dynamics of this crucial market.
Intel’s latest “Core Ultra 200S” series (codenamed Arrow Lake) was originally highly anticipated, but market response has been lukewarm. Reviews indicate that the series has failed to meet expectations in gaming and productivity tasks, with some performance even lagging behind the previous generation Raptor Lake Refresh series. More concerningly, the Raptor Lake Refresh had previously caused large-scale returns and repair demands due to instability issues, forcing Intel to invest significant resources in fixing vulnerabilities. This series of problems has severely damaged consumer confidence in the Intel brand, leading many users to seek more reliable alternatives.
Meanwhile, AMD has seized this opportunity. Its Ryzen 9000 series processors based on the Zen 5 architecture have garnered widespread praise for their excellent multi-core performance and energy efficiency. Especially the X3D models equipped with 3D V-Cache technology, such as the Ryzen 7 9800X3D, have demonstrated a clear advantage in gaming performance, appealing to gamers and professional users alike. AMD is also continuously expanding its product line, planning to launch more high-end processors based on the Zen 5 architecture in 2025, further solidifying its market competitiveness.
Market data shows that global CPU shipments in the third quarter of 2024 increased by 7.8% year-on-year, with particularly strong growth in the Chinese market. AMD has not only performed strongly in the desktop CPU sector but is also steadily increasing its share in the server and mobile platforms. In contrast, although Intel’s Arrow Lake series introduced new architectural designs such as larger L3 cache and optimized energy efficiency, its lack of hyperthreading support and higher power consumption have failed to effectively attract consumers. In addition, the decline in Intel motherboard sales reflects the pressure on its ecosystem, while AMD’s AM5 platform is gaining popularity among more users due to its compatibility and cost-effectiveness.
Pricing strategy is also an important factor influencing market choices. AMD’s Ryzen 9000 series is more competitively priced, offering a variety of options from entry-level to high-end to meet the needs of different users. In contrast, the high pricing of Intel’s Arrow Lake series in the high-end market has deterred some consumers. Intel has been trying to salvage the situation through frequent microcode updates, but these efforts have yielded little result, and consumer trust in new products remains low.
At the technical level, AMD’s Zen 5 architecture has improved in both single-core and multi-core performance, performing particularly well in high-load scenarios. For example, the Ryzen 9 9950X has demonstrated powerful capabilities in content creation and multitasking, with some tests showing its performance leading Intel’s flagship Core Ultra 9 285K by up to 20%. Furthermore, AMD’s 3D V-Cache technology significantly improves game frame rates by increasing cache capacity, becoming a key selling point for attracting gamers.
Intel is not without a counterattack. Its Lunar Lake processors in the laptop market have performed well, with breakthroughs in energy efficiency and integrated graphics performance. However, in the desktop CPU sector, Intel needs more innovative products to revitalize market confidence. It is reported that Intel plans to launch the Panther Lake series in 2025, which is expected to use the 18A process technology to further optimize performance and power consumption. This may bring a turnaround for Intel, but facing AMD’s steady advance, the time left for Intel is not much.
As one of the world’s largest PC consumer markets, the Chinese market is of paramount importance to both AMD and Intel. Through continuous technological innovation and flexible market strategies, AMD has successfully captured consumer demand. Intel, on the other hand, needs to face its current predicament squarely, accelerate its product iteration pace, and regain user trust with more attractive performance and prices. In the coming months, the competition between the two companies in technology and the market will become more intense, which is worth close attention from technology enthusiasts.