Advanced Micro Devices CEO Lisa Su said that she was confident about the state of competition with rivals such as Intel and Nvidia in processors and graphics chips. She said the company gained market share in processors for the 6th straight quarter, as part of her remarks during AMD\u2019s first quarter\u2026<\/b>
\nAdvanced Micro Devices CEO Lisa Su said that she was confident about the state of competition with rivals such as Intel and Nvidia in processors and graphics chips. She said the company gained market share in processors for the 6th straight quarter, as part of her remarks during AMD\u2019s first quarter earnings conference call with analysts today.
AMD\u2019s revenue was $1.27 billion for the first quarter, down 23% from the same quarter a year ago. But she noted that Ryzen and Epyc processor and data center graphics processing units (GPUs) revenue more than doubled year-over-year, helping expand gross margin by 5 percentage points.
If there was a slowness in the quarter, it was due to softness in the graphics channel softness and lower
semi-custom revenue (which includes game console chips).
Su said AMD\u2019s unit shipments increased significantly and our new products drove a higher client average selling price (ASP).
\u201cAs a result, we believe we gained unit market share for the sixth straight quarter,\u201d Su said.
In the desktop channel, demand for AMD\u2019s highest-end Ryzen 7 and Ryzen 5 CPUs was strong, Su said. And Ryzen mobile processor adoption continues to accelerate, she said.
Acer, Asus, Dell, HP, Lenovo, and other computer makers have launched more than a dozen new Ryzen mobile notebooks so far in 2019, helping AMD deliver its fifth straight quarter of year-over-year mobile processor growth.
Su said customers are on track to increase the number of Ryzen notebook models by more than 50 percent from 2018. The majority of those new systems are planned to launch in the second quarter in
advance of the seasonally stronger second half of the year.
In graphics, revenue decreased year-over-year driven largely by lower channel sales, partially offset by a significant increase in data center GPU sales.
Radeon Vega GPU shipments grew by a strong double-digit percentage, both year-over-year and sequentially based on increased adoption across computer maker, gaming, and data center customers, Su said.
Apple introduced two new iMac systems featuring upgraded Radeon Pro Vega GPUs that deliver up to 80% faster graphics performance than the previous generation.
\u201cWe believe we made good progress improving channel inventory levels,\u201d she said, regarding the pile of unsold graphics chips from previous quarters (related to the cryptocurrency bubble). \u201cSell-through accelerated sequentially, driven by sales of both our mainstream Radeon RX GPUs and new high-end Radeon VII gaming GPUs.\u201d
Su said AMD\u2019s first 7-nanometer Navi gaming GPUs will debut in the third quarter. She also said cloud leader Amazon rolled out AMD-based offerings to additional regions and launched three new Epyc processor-powered EC2 instance families, including the first T3-series instances.
AMD is on track to begin \u201cRome\u201d (the latest Epyc data center processors) production shipments in the
second quarter to support a third-quarter launch. Over time, as AMD fully rolls out its Epyc lineup, Su believes the company can hit double-digit market share.
The third-generation Ryzen desktop processors will ship later this year, with second-generation mobile Ryzen chips shipping as well. Those launches will help make the PC business a big driver for AMD, Su said.<\/p>\n