AMD’s Esports Growth Could See It Steal the CPU Market from Intel

Intel has dominated the CPU market for well over a decade. Now AMD is gaining ground and stealing market share from Intel and it could continue to do so via growth from the esports industry.

For the first time in twelve years, as per CPUBenchmark and Wccf Tech, AMD has taken 30% of the computer processor market share. AMD has seen growth since it introduced its Zen CPUs in 2017. The success of the Zen Ryzen family, including Ryzen, Ryzen Pro, Ryzen Threadripper, and EPYC, have driven AMD’s market share substantially in recent years.

Investor Place writer Chris Markoch says “advanced micro devices has its esports game together as it takes on Intel” describing how AMD has exclusive esports industry deals that will help fuel the growth AMD shareholders expect. AMD stocks are at a 14-year high of $36.29. AMD has just reported its highest quarterly revenue since 2005 and its highest gross margin since 2012.

Moor Insights & Strategy analyst Patrick Moorhead says, “AMD is thriving,” and that:

“Its PC group comprised of Ryzen processors and Radeon graphics led the charge with eye-popping 36% growth.”

AMD investors have had their fingers burned on nascent industry growth before, however. In September 2018 AMD stocks doubled with revenue uptake driven by AMD’s CPU use in cryptocurrency mining processes. But, when cryptocurrency prices plummeted, so too did AMD’s share price.

Esports is a catalyst for AMD’s growth

Esports players and esports tournaments need powerful processors for their gaming machines, AMD’s Ryzen CPU and Radeon RX graphic cards appear to be fulfilling this need. Markoch says esports is a catalyst for AMD’s growth and that:

“Their processors, including their newly launched Threadripper processor, allow gamers the flexibility they need when streaming their gameplay outside of competitive events.”

AMD has partnered with esports organization Fnatic for three years running. Fnatic teams are sponsored by Ryzen and Radeon RX brands and AMD is Fnatic’s exclusive hardware partner for motherboards, GPUs, CPUs, and laptops. Fnatic said in its last announcement on the partnership:

“AMD Ryzen™ processors are designed for impeccable performance for the most ambitious gamers. Radeon™ RX Vega Graphics are for extreme gamers looking to run their games at the highest resolutions, highest framerates, and maximum settings. Radeon™ RX 500 series graphics cards are designed to play games at a smooth 1080p and beyond.”

The hardware giant is clearly committed to esports, outlining in its esports and AMD web pages: “AMD understands that the future of gaming lies in esports and is partnering with teams and organisations to help build that future.”

It has another close partnership with Evil Geniuses whose players join Call of Duty, Dota 2, LoL, and Fortnite tournaments to name a few. And, AMD works with Evil Geniuses and Fnatic to develop specific esports events and content. AMD Sapphire Dota Pit was the company’s first title sponsorship which saw 48 million unique viewers.

AMD is certainly targeting its new technology developments at esports use stating:

“With recent innovations such as Ryzen™ 2, AMD has its sights set firmly on the future of gaming and esports, and what those users will need as the scene develops.”

Though AMD appears to be stealing a march on the esports market, Intel too has its sights on the new industry. Intel will be hosting an Olympics-sanctioned esports tournament in 2020 in Tokyo in the run up to the Olympics.

Read also: Gaming Industry Bodies Set Esports Principles for Fair Play