Q2 2026 solidifies AMD's trajectory, expanding its share across every x86 segment while the desktop market faces a sharp contraction. Mercury Research data reveals structural growth for AMD, leveraging Intel's supply constraints and rising component costs to consolidate its competitive position.

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Desktop declines, but AMD gains ground on Intel

Desktop processor shipments dropped by over 20% year-on-year, a decline Mercury attributes to weak demand for high-end gaming PCs. The primary driver is the increase in system prices, caused by memory and consumer GPU shortages. This dynamic reflects the global DRAM crisis and the RAM price explosion, where manufacturers have shifted capacity toward HBM for AI servers. Despite the overall decline, AMD pushed its desktop share to 35%, up from 32% a year ago, while Intel suffered a steeper drop.

Mobile and servers: the quality leap

In the mobile segment, AMD reached nearly 29% share, a significant jump from 20.6% in Q2 2025. This growth was driven by a strong increase in Intel's output, which narrowed the supply-demand gap after two constrained quarters. In servers, shipments rose 20% year-on-year: AMD now holds 34.5% of the market (compared to 27.3% a year ago). If only datacenter chips (Xeon SP and EPYC) are considered, AMD's share climbs to 46.4%, confirming the trend already observed in Q1.

Arm and Apple: the new client balance

Mercury estimates that Arm-based systems reached a record 15.3% of the client market and 13.6% in servers. This growth is driven by Apple's Mac success (including the new Neo line) and Arm-based Chromebooks. This data fits into a market where Apple dominates sales while Windows rivals struggle to regain share.

The impact of GPU and memory shortages

The scarcity of consumer GPUs, caused by the same priority given to HBM production for AI, is penalizing desktop demand. AMD has already warned that DDR5 prices will remain high until 2028, a factor that will continue to influence margins and consumer purchasing choices in the coming years.