Intel's (INTC) - Get Report very profitable server CPU business is facing tougher competition than it has seen in years.

A big reason for this: The traction AMD (AMD) - Get Report is seeing for its Epyc server CPU line, which has landed the backing of several top-tier server OEMs and cloud giants. A new server design win with Cisco Systems (CSCO) - Get Report showcases both Epyc's OEM traction and competitive strengths: Cisco's Epyc-powered servers deliver far more processing power density than its existing Intel-powered server lines, thanks in part to the flexibility of the Epyc platform.

Epyc also has some other notable selling points, such as aggressive pricing and novel memory encryption features. And towards the end of 2018, AMD expects to begin sampling (ahead of 2019 launches) second-gen Epyc CPUs that (thanks to Intel's ongoing manufacturing process delays) should have a manufacturing process edge over the most advanced Intel Xeon server CPUs available at that time.

Intel still has a lot of competitive strengths of its own in this battle. However, AMD only needs to gain a moderate amount of share for its server revenue to shoot higher. And at current levels, such a revenue surge might not be fully priced into AMD's stock.

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