AMD overtakes Intel in the data center market for the first time — but NVIDIA earns many times more

For the first time in history, AMD has earned more from data center processors than Intel. However, NVIDIA earned almost 4 times more in this market than both processor giants combined.

For more than two decades, Intel has been the undisputed leader in the data center chip market. Intel Xeon processors were used in the vast majority of servers, while AMD had a few percent just a few years ago. However, the situation has changed dramatically: while Xeons are still running in most servers, the most expensive computers now use AMD EPYC processors. According to SemiAnalysisAMD’s data center division earned more than Intel’s equivalent.

AMD’s data center segment profit reached $3.549 billion in the third quarter of this year, while Intel earned $3.3 billion in this area. Only two years ago, Intel’s DCAI group earned $5-6 billion per quarter. As AMD EPYCs gained competitive advantages over Xeon, Intel had to sell its server chips at significant discounts, which reduced profits.

Intel’s flagship 128-core Xeon 6980P Granite Rapids processor costs $17,800, making it the company’s most expensive standard processor. In contrast, the most expensive 96-core AMD EPYC 6979P processor costs «only» $11,805. If demand for the Xeon 6900 series remains high and the company is able to supply these processors in large volumes, then Intel’s data center profits are likely to return and exceed AMD’s sales. However, Intel still needs to ramp up production of its Granite Rapids products.

In the meantime NVIDIA earns much more NVIDIA’s networking products generated $3.668 billion in sales for the quarter, and its computing GPUs generated $22.604 billion in sales, significantly exceeding the above combined revenues Intel and AMD. In total, NVIDIA sold nearly $42 billion worth of GPUs for AI and HPC in the first half of this year, and the company is likely to sell even more in the second half of the year.

Source: Tom’s Hardware