Sometimes, the most important insight seem obvious once said. CPUs, the core chip for PCs and servers, were once the king of compute. This was just a.
Sometimes, the most important insight seem obvious once said. CPUs, the core chip for PCs and servers, were once the king of compute. This was just a given, a fundamental assumption of the semiconductor industry. In the distant past of 2013 only two companies made CPUs – Intel and AMD, with Intel by far the leader.
No one else could afford to make these big iron, ubiquitous chips. But in less than ten years, that entire mindset has been invalidated. By our count, there are over a dozen companies designing CPUs today, Intel’s position in that space is no longer dominant and CPUs have fallen victim to the guillotine. The semiconductor world no longer has a king. Vive la République!
Obviously Intel and AMD still make CPUs, and to be fair, they remain the market share leaders. And even after Intel’s very troubling past five years, they retain the #1 position in the market.
Editor’s Note:
Guest author Jonathan Goldberg is the founder of D2D Advisory, a multi-functional consulting firm.
