INTEL SUFFERS, AMD SURGES IN 2006

EL SEGUNDO, California, March 16 /PRNewswire/ --

It was a tale of two companies in the semiconductor industry in 2006,
with leading chip supplier Intel Corp. suffering a revenue decline, while
rival Advanced Micro Devices Inc. (AMD) nearly doubled its sales, according
to iSuppli Corp.'s final 2006 market-share ranking.


"For U.S. microprocessor giant Intel, 2006 was the worst of times, as its
global semiconductor revenue dropped by 11.1 percent from 2005," said Dale
Ford, vice president, market intelligence, for iSuppli. "The revenue decline,
which was due to Intel's bleak performance in its core PC microprocessor and
flash-memory businesses, erased nearly all of the company's sales gains from
its strong year in 2005. Intel's 2006 revenue of US$31.5 billion was less
than half a percentage point higher than its sales in 2004.


"For Intel's smaller U.S. rival, AMD, 2006 was the best of times as it
achieved a whopping 91.6 percent increase in revenue for the year, partly due
to a major acquisition, but also because of strong gains in microprocessor
market share," Ford added. This robust increase in revenue caused AMD's
ranking to rise to eighth place in 2006, up seven positions from the 15th
rank in 2005.


The divergent performances of Intel and AMD came during a 2006 when
global semiconductor industry revenue rose by 9.3 percent to reach US$260.2
billion, up from US$237.98 billion in 2005. This is slightly higher than the
9 percent growth iSuppli predicted in its preliminary market share estimate
compiled in November and released in early December.


Intel in 2006 faced hard times in its microprocessor and flash-memory
businesses, which together accounted for 83 percent of total company revenue
last year. The company's combined microprocessor and flash revenue in 2006
fell to its lowest level since 2003 as Intel faced rising competitive
pressure in those markets.


Meanwhile, AMD in 2006 gained PC microprocessor market share at Intel's
expense. AMD's PC microprocessor revenue rose by 35.5 percent in 2006 and its
market share in that product segment increased to 16.1 percent, up
5 percentage points from 11.1 percent in 2005. AMD's revenue also was
boosted substantially by its acquisition of graphics chip seller ATI
Technologies in 2006.


To see a full version of this press release, including a top-25 ranking
table, please visit:
http://www.isuppli.com/news/default.asp?id=7618&m=3&y=2007 .


All Information and Intellectual Property Contained Herein is the Sole
Property of iSuppli Corporation.


About iSuppli Corporation


iSuppli Corporation is the global leader in technology value chain
research and advisory services. iSuppli provides market intelligence services
for the EMS, OEM and supplier communities in addition to servicing consumer
electronics and media concerns. Services afforded by iSuppli range from
electronic component research to device-specific application market
forecasts, from teardown analysis to consumer electronics and from display
device and systems research to multimedia content and services. More
information is available at www.isuppli.com


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