AMD's share of the x86 processor market reached the highest point it has attained in the last two years - and a year after it fell to its lowest point in the same period.

Intel's arch-rival took 16.6 per cent of the market in Q4 2004, well up on the 14.7 per cent it took in Q4 2003, according to market watcher Mercury Research (MR) cited by ExtremeTech.

Intel took 82.2 per cent of the market in Q4, down from 83.7 per cent in the year-ago quarter.

Both chip makers increased their share sequentially, though MR did not provide figures. Their gains came at the expense of the likes of VIA and Transmeta, with both winning ground in the server market, while Intel did particularly well in the mobile arena. By contrast, AMD experienced some success in the low-end desktop space, courtesy of its Sempron product line, MR said.

A number of analysts have suggested that AMD will grow its share further through 2005, in both the desktop and low-end server segments, while Intel recovers from the mistakes made in 2004. ®

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