AMD loses desktop CPU share for first time in months, Intel regains ground

AMD’s share of desktop CPU shipments fell to 29.9% in the third quarter of 2026, according to new data from Mercury Research, shared by PC Gamer. This represents a five-point drop from AMD’s 34.9% holding in the second quarter, with Intel rising to 70.1%. This is also AMD’s lowest desktop figure since early 2025, when it stood at around 28%. A year ago, AMD had 33.6% of the desktop market.

Mercury herself admits that she is unsure of the cause of this change. His best guess is that falling demand for laptops has allowed Intel to shift more chips to desktops, which typically see a seasonal surge in the third quarter, after Intel undersupplied that market earlier in the year. AMD, on the other hand, does not appear to have benefited from this seasonal increase. Mercury also highlights AMD’s heavy reliance on PC gaming, a market it says has been hit by gaming GPU supply constraints. On top of that, AMD has openly admitted that demand is ahead of what it can deliver, and Lisa Su recently called AMD a “data center-focused” company.

Intel’s gain probably says more about the offering than the sudden conquest of gamers by its desktop chips. Mercury notes that desktop volumes were hit hard in the second quarter and both companies saw mobile processor shipments fall more than 10% in the third quarter. In servers, the trend reversed, with AMD increasing to 35.5% from 34.5% the previous quarter.