Days after Intel announced their price cuts, which were up to 53 percent, AMD have announced their own cuts ranging from 11 to 52 percent, for both mobile and desktop Athlon XP's. As the two processor giants are preparing the ground for their newest chips, we have come to expect price cuts as a means to clear their stock of the older ranges. There is also a "darker" side to the price cuts though, both companies are engaged in a performance-versus-price war. Intel have pushed hard on issues of speed and performance while AMD have tried to play the "good deal" card.
We're going to do what it takes to stay competitive was the laconic comment of an AMD spokesman. With the new XP 2200+ (1.8GHz) desktop and mobile Athlon XP 1800+ chips about to surface AMD are really pulling all the stops.
AMD have displayed extreme tenacity in pursuing the price wars and have done so at a great risk to their profits. Working at low profit margins however, has been an AMD trademark in the past few years and is what has helped the company achieve an ever increasing market share. According to Mercury Research AMD's current market share is 18.2 percent. This figure indicates that AMD has indeed gnawed at Intels share, especially in Europe and Asia.
