Intel (INTC +1.72%), which has been losing market share to rival Advanced Micro Devices (AMD +1.74%) for the past three years, is at least giving itself a chance to turn the tide. On Thursday, the tech company introduced its newest central processing units, or CPUs, aimed at gamers seeking top performance from their hardware.
The newest iteration of its Core S-series desktop processors marks the 10th generation of the line, with the most powerful version -- the i9-10900K -- described by the company as "the world's fastest gaming processor." It boasts 10 cores, 20 threads, and is capable of reaching speeds up to 5.3 GHz. At that speed, the processor is able to support graphics quality of up to 187 frames per second, delivering an outstanding gaming experience.
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It remains to be seen to what extent this latest i9 will help Intel push back against AMD, whose Ryzen processors have been a hit among personal computer owners, with PassMark estimating that Advanced Micro Devices processors account for a little more 33% of all CPUs presently in use. Intel still holds the lead with control of more than 66% of the market, but as recently as 2016 Intel CPUs were installed on more than 82% of actively used computers.
The shifting market share may largely reflect Intel's failure to introduce 7-nanometer processors when AMD did last year, with its Ryzen 3000 series of CPUs that were not only high-performance, but reasonably affordable. The latest i9 still isn't a 7-nm device, and instead relies on 14-nm architecture that theoretically limits a CPU's top speed. Intel, however, appears to have found other ways to extract performance.
