Qualcomm Leapfrogs AMD

By Evan Niu, CFA – May 23, 2013 at 5:30PM

NASDAQ: QCOM

Qualcomm

Market Cap

$180B

Today's Change

(0.73%) $1.17

Current Price

$161.35

Price as of April 23, 2024, 4:00 p.m. ET

Recent estimates show AMD dropping two spots in the microprocessor market, giving opportunity to mobile chip makers Qualcomm and Samsung. Intel still leads by a large margin, but mobile is here to stay.

IC Insights recently put out some estimates on the microprocessor market. Naturally, Intel (INTC -0.38%) takes the cake with the top spot, but Advanced Micro Devices (AMD 2.44%) lost a lot of traction last year and fell to No. 4. That was an opening for Qualcomm (QCOM 0.73%) and Samsung to move in, claiming the No. 2 and No. 3 positions, respectively. Much of Samsung's microprocessor revenue is generated from its foundry relationship with Apple (AAPL 0.64%).

The data shows how quickly mobile adoption is changing the industry. Qualcomm had recently overtook Intel's market cap, which Intel has since reclaimed. Intel and AMD may not be relevant in mobile quite yet, but both companies remain determined.

In the video below, Fool contributor Evan Niu, CFA, discusses the challenges that Intel and AMD face in mobile.

Fool contributor Evan Niu, CFA, owns shares of Apple and Qualcomm. The Motley Fool recommends Apple, Intel, and NVIDIA. The Motley Fool owns shares of Apple, Intel, and Qualcomm. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.