Why Everyone Loves Intel
Intel vs. AMD
If it was not already obvious, my favorite company is Intel. For the longest time, Intel was at the top of the PC Processor world. Their main competitor, Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) however, currently has the most advanced processors on the market at their price point, and as a result, some people are switching who have been lifelong Intel buyers. Thus, it appears that Intel is in a bit of a predicament. Before I give my recommendations on how to resolve that, I shall explain why I support Intel so feverishly.
A background on Intel’s Market Dominance
It all started out with the Intel CORE series. Intel’s CORE processors were a huge step up from their predecessor, Pentium, and with their release back in 2006, they solidified their position in the market ahead of AMD for years to come. For many years, Intel and AMD processors were priced relatively similarly for processors with comparable specs. However, things began to change when the core count of consumer processors began to grow exponentially. It seems like in the last five years we have gone from a dual-core processor being reasonable, to reasonably considering buying a 10–16 core processor. As the core counts began to rise, however; AMD began to price their processors below Intel for comparable core counts. As a result, they have been slowly gaining market share. as they seemed to be the “Walmart brand” version of Intel processors, functional but definitely not the real thing. AMD chips were not as reliable, did not handle high temperatures nearly as well, and the architecture of the chip was inferior. However, Ryzen 4000 series chips seem to have remedied that. While all this seems bad for intel, they still have one advantage, their processors run faster than AMDs when they have equal amounts of cores. Thus, I see them as better when compared head to head with AMD.
A recommendation for Intel’s Future
Here is what I believe Intel needs to do with regard to their AMD problem. Cut Prices. While, on the surface, this may sound like suicide, I will show you why that is not the case. While Intel used to be able to command a higher price for their products, their advantage over AMD technologically has dried up significantly, their moat has evaporated. Their minor technological advances compared to AMD 4000 series chips do not command a premium in the market. Still, engaging in a price war with AMD could have adverse effects on the profit margins, Intel has to regain its market share already lost. Intel, however; will not always be this technologically close to AMD, they are developing a proprietary 7nm process to rival AMD’s 9nm process (smaller is better) which will allow them to retake the undeniable advantage in terms of technology. Then, when this happens, they should reprice those processors at a premium which will be justified by the advanced technology, unrivaled by AMD. So, effectively, engage in price-based competition with AMD temporarily, then change course when they release 7nm chips