With AMD's horrible first quarter now out in the open, analysts have started to deliver fresh data that documents just how much market share the chipmaker ceded to Intel in recent months.

Intel's share of the x86 processor market rose to 81 per cent during the first quarter, according to data from Mercury Research. That total is up from 74 per cent of the market in the previous quarter and 74 per cent again during the first quarter of 2006.

According to Mercury, AMD was left with 19 per cent of the x86 market in the first quarter of 2007, while Via took 1 per cent.

AMD's glory days ran throughout 2006 when it ate up more than 20 per cent of the x86 market and as much as 25 per cent of the market in the fourth quarter. A resurgent Intel, however, has punished the smaller rival via better product and brutal pricing.

Executives at AMD have claimed the company needs at least 30 per cent of the x86 market to post a profit on a regular basis.

Proving this point, AMD reported a $600m loss during its most recent quarter, as processor sales plummeted close to 40 per cent.

AMD lost ground in the notebook (four points of share), desktop (eight points) and server segments (seven points) quarter-on-quarter, according to Mercury. ®