Intel took back overall x86 processor market share from AMD in the third quarter of 2026, the first time it has done so since the second quarter of 2025. The gain came from desktop chips, while the whole PC processor market shrank as memory and storage prices put buyers off.
Measured by units shipped to PC makers, Mercury Research has AMD at 29.3% of client processors, off its 30.3% peak in the second quarter. Intel is at 70.7%. Twelve months ago it was 74.6% against 25.4%. Across all x86 chips, AMD lost 0.6 points on the quarter, its first quarterly dip in years, yet it is 4.5 points up on a year ago.
The pie itself got smaller. Jon Peddie Research puts client CPU shipments at 60.8 million, a 3.4% slip on the second quarter and 6.5% below Q3 2025. Within that, desktop dropped 13% over the year and notebooks 4%. The firm points to lean stock at PC makers and a DIY channel that never recovered after gamers bought early, before memory and SSD prices rose.
Desktop is where the swing happened. Intel’s desktop unit share jumped to 70.1% from about 65% in the second quarter, as Friday’s desktop split already showed, while AMD’s fell to 29.9%. Mercury’s explanation is that weak laptop demand freed Intel silicon for desktop chips, a segment both companies had under-supplied. AMD also leans harder on gaming PCs, which were short of graphics cards and hit by pricey memory.
Laptops went the other way for AMD. Shipments there fell more than 10% from the second quarter, but AMD’s dropped a little less than Intel’s, so its laptop share edged up to a record 29.2% (21.9% a year ago) and Intel holds 70.8%. Part of the drop is buyers who stocked up in the busy April to June period.
Servers are the one segment still growing. Shipments reached 8.13 million units, up from 7.83 million in the second quarter and 6.59 million a year ago, with AI build-outs driving demand. AMD’s server unit share rose to 34.1%, with Intel at 65.9%.
The outlook is worse. Mercury’s Dean McCarron says both Intel and AMD told investors that PC demand softened quickly late in the quarter, and that client chip shipments are likely to fall by more than 20% in the fourth quarter. Jon Peddie expects PC conditions to stay difficult into the first half of 2027. Mercury and JPR count chips shipped to PC makers, not PCs sold, so the effect on shop prices comes later.
