Well, yeah, it's something. Well, it was until Sandy Bridge came out...
Not sure how it will go out as monopoly is illegal in the US, Europe, Japan and many other countries.
I don't think Mike Silverman is right. He may say what he thinks but there will always be AMD competing against intel. Look at VIA, they still offer their processors, not sure if they sell them but they are there. AMD got around 20% of CPU market share. Its not that bad, the problem is that in the times we're living anything can happen.
The same thing applies to both comments here.
Intel owns say 75% of the CPU market. They have the capacity to meet the demand of that part of the market, but really, not much more than that.
AMD has 23%. They currently have issues getting chips on store shelves.
AMD can NEVER compete with Intel until they can PRODUCE enough chips to meet Intel's demand. The cost of the foundries needed is not possible for AMD's foundry partners, nor anyone else.
Intel literally OWNS the market, because they OWN the fabrication facilities. Even if x86 code use disappeared completely tomorrow, Intel would still own the market, as none else can make the chips the meet demand. As long as computing products are sold, Intel will own the CPU market completely, and that's just that.
If hte industry is truly going to thrive, each company needs to centralize focus on the products they produce, in order to meet specific needs, rather than a broad range of capabilities. Current technology is so advanced that there really is very little need for further growth in overall computing power...we need more uses for computing technology before that will ever become an issue.
Frankly, I think dropping the x86 CPU market is the bet thing for AMD, so they can focus on GPU designs, and use other companies CPUs to power their GPU technologies. All AMD really needs is a small, efficient CPU, not any server-based technology like Bulldozer is. Low-power, small footprint technology has far more possible uses once functionality is "made-to-order".
The sad part is that AMD needs the revenue from CPU sales to pay their loans.