攻守易势：AMD锐龙芯片能否干翻英特尔？

在美国硅谷，针锋相对地竞争的科技公司有不少对，而战争打得最持久的，当属两大芯片制造商英特尔和AMD。在5月下旬的台北电脑展上，两家公司的攻守之势却陡然生变。

之前几十年，英特尔始终是台式机处理器市场的龙头老大，AMD只能扮演万年老二的角色。这两家公司都成立于20世纪60年代末，而且他们的创始人都来自于硅谷半导体行业的先驱企业——仙童半导体。半个世纪以来，两家公司经常在法庭打官司打得难解难分，在快速发展的电脑处理器市场上更是恶斗不休。

5月26日，AMD公司的CEO苏姿丰在台北电脑展上发布了该公司的第三代锐龙微处理器，该产品是AMD从五年前开始研发的。苏姿丰表示，第三代锐龙芯片基于AMD的“禅”架构开发，在公司的内测中，它的性能比英特尔的同等处理器高出16%以上。新一代锐龙芯片将于今年7月上市，售价500美元，只有英特尔的竞争产品的一半左右。

在2019年台北电脑展上独家发布锐龙家族的最新成员——12核/24线程的第三代AMD“禅”锐龙9 3900X处理器。https://t.co/OgLHoqWv9T pic.twitter.com/75FzfpdiKx

——AMD锐龙(@AMDRyzen) May 27, 2019

这几年AMD的创新程度已经超过了英特尔。5月26日的发布会也让一些华尔街分析师认为，AMD将有机会在PC处理器市场上抢到更大的份额。

由于锐龙芯片的市场反应喜人，到上个季度，AMD在CPU市场上的份额已经从去年的12%跃升至17%——这一定程度上也是因为英特尔的CPU处理器缺货导致的。当然，市场的其余份额还是被英特尔所垄断。不过如果新一代锐龙处理器的性能和价格果然如苏姿丰所说，那么AMD必然会进一步抢占英特尔的市场份额。

Stifel Financial公司的分析师凯文·卡西迪于上周一在一份研究报告中表示：“这次发布会，表明AMD的CPU线程处理技术和性能在50年来首次超越了英特尔。我们认为，凭借高性能、低能耗、低成本和升级方便等优势，AMD的市场份额增长将进一步加速。”

富国银行的分析师亚伦·拉克斯也表示，苏姿丰的发布会“强化了我们的积极观点”，即AMD的锐龙芯片将在2019年下半年继续扩大市场份额。

上周二市场开盘后，AMD的股价出现飙升，收盘上涨10%至每股29.03美元。与此同时，英特尔的股价下跌了2.2%，跌至每股43.57美元。AMD的股价继续延续了去年的涨势。去年一年，AMD的股票上涨了117%，而英特尔的股票则下跌了21%。（财富中文网）

译者：朴成奎

Of all the bitter rivalries that have stoked competition in Silicon Valley, the longest-running battle belongs to chipmakers Intel and Advanced Micro Devices. At a computer conference in Taiwan at the end of May, the tech tug-of-war between the two companies underwent an intriguing twist.

For decades, Intel has typically dominated in the market for the processors that power desktop PCs, with AMD often forced to content itself with second place. The two companies were founded in the late 1960s by former engineers at Fairchild Semiconductor, an early Silicon Valley pioneer. Over the decades, they have clashed in courtrooms as well as the burgeoning market for desktop processors.

On May 26, AMD CEO Lisa Su took the stage at the Computex computer expo in Taipei to unveil the third generation of the company’s Ryzen microprocessor, which it began developing more than five years ago. Su said the new chips, based on AMD’s Zen architecture, outperformed a comparable processor from Intel by more than 16% in its internal tests. Come July, the new Ryzen chips will sell for $500, half the price of Intel’s competing offerings.

Here's an exclusive #COMPUTEX2019 look at the newest edition to the Ryzen family, the 12 core/24 thread 3rd Gen AMD Ryzen 9 3900X processor. https://t.co/OgLHoqWv9T pic.twitter.com/75FzfpdiKx

— AMD Ryzen (@AMDRyzen) May 27, 2019

AMD’s innovations have leapfrogged those at Intel in the past, but announcement on May 26 has some Wall Street analysts anticipating an opportunity for AMD to steal an even bigger share of the market for PC processors.

Ryzen chips have already helped AMD’s CPU market share to jump to 17% last quarter, up from 12% a year earlier (with Intel holding the remaining share), thanks in part to a shortage of CPU processors at Intel. If Ryzen delivers on price and performance as Su promised, it can eat further into Intel’s dominant share.

“This announcement represents the first time AMD has taken the desktop CPU lead process technology and performance lead from Intel in its 50-year history,” Stifel Financial analyst Kevin Cassidy said in a research note last Monday. “We expect AMD to accelerate its PC market share gains due to higher performance, lower power usage, lower cost and ease of upgrade.”

Another analyst, Aaron Rakers at Wells Fargo, said Su’s “presentation reinforced our positive thesis” that the Ryzen chips could sustain AMD’s market-share gains through the rest of 2019.

Once markets opened on last Tuesday, AMD’s stock surged, closing up 10% at $29.03 a share. Intel, meanwhile, saw its stock fall 2.2% to $43.57 a share. That extends AMD’s outperformance over the past year, during which AMD has risen 117% while Intel has fallen 21%.