The new PC chip war comes to India

The new PC chip war comes to India


The US vs the Soviet Union. Android vs iOS. Pirate vs ninja. AMD vs Intel. All battles that have rocked the world—or, well, at least some people.
 
What if I were to ask whether you know what processor is inside your laptop or desktop? For most people, the conversation would go, “Intel? Core i something something? What do you mean which one? And how did you even get in here? I’m going to call—”
 
Ahem. For much of the past decade, it used to be that for PC makers—think HP or Dell—there were two non-negotiable costs: a Windows licence and an Intel processor. Unless you were targeting the stingiest of bargain hunters (who would rather Piratebay and don’t care what’s “Inside” the computer).
 
AMD, Intel’s only significant competitor for the processors that power pretty much all of today’s computers and servers, was barely a choice. The 49-year-old California-based chipmaker’s market share collapsed in the mid-to-late 2000s because their entire line of processors failed to stack up to Intel’s. Courtesy of certain design and manufacturing weaknesses.
 
Years of losses followed, the CEO was kicked out, and AMD stock tumbled—everything you’d expect. And Intel had a virtual monopoly.
 
But the company went back to the drawing board, got a new CEO, and two years ago, came up with a brand new processor “architecture” called Ryzen. At the same time, Intel was in a bit of a bind, struggling with manufacturing problems of its own. All of a sudden, AMD was back in the game.
 
Today, AMD’s been gaining market share across laptops, desktops and servers around the world. It’s undercutting Intel—historically obsessed with high margins—in price, and by all accounts coming close in terms of performance. And India, my colleague Roshni points out in today’s story, is right in the middle of the new PC chip wars.
 
Because Indians love a good deal. State governments ordering hundreds of thousands, or even millions, of computers for educational programmes. PC makers who can finally push something other than Intel Inside. In fact, AMD actually counts India as its largest market for commercial PCs. And then you have a tribe of gamers, enthusiasts and tinkerers who buy PC components and assemble their own computers. All on a budget too.
 
It’s a heady mix and a complex fight, and Roshni takes us right into the thick of it. Read the story here: https://the-ken.com/story/amd-intel-india/

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