Amd captured 33.2 percent of the server CPU market in Q1 2026, driven by a 10 percent year-over-year increase in server processor shipments. The broader x86 market declined six percent sequentially, but server silicon bucked the trend amid sustained demand for AI infrastructure.
Server market dynamics
Server CPU unit shipments rose more than 10 percent year-over-year, fueled by ongoing AI server buildouts in datacenters. Amd’s server share increased six percentage points from Q1 2025, while Intel’s server shipments remained flat both sequentially and annually. Intel still commands a two-thirds share of the server market, but Amd is steadily eroding that lead.
Both suppliers expressed optimism for datacenter silicon through the rest of 2026. However, Amd cautioned during its Q1 financial results that CPU shipments could decline in the second half due to a memory supply crisis.
Client and mobile trends
Desktop CPU shipments fell nearly 20 percent year-over-year, worse than seasonal norms. Amd’s desktop performance was surprisingly weaker than Intel’s, reversing recent trends and allowing Intel to regain some share. Intel now holds 66.8 percent of desktop shipments, with Amd at 33.2 percent.
Mobile CPU shipments declined by low single digits, a result “negligibly worse than seasonal averages” according to Mercury Research. The decline hit Intel exclusively, as Amd posted a rare first-quarter increase. Amd’s mobile share rose to 28.3 percent, up from 22.5 percent a year ago, likely due to Intel’s ongoing supply constraints from capacity reallocation to server chips.
Arm’s growing footprint
Arm-based CPUs now represent 14.4 percent of the total PC and server market, up from 13.9 percent in Q4 2025. This includes Chromebooks and Apple’s M-series Macs. Arm server CPU shipments nearly doubled year-over-year, reaching 13.2 percent of total server shipments, driven primarily by Nvidia’s Grace CPU in its Blackwell NVL72 AI rack platforms.
Mercury Research President Dean McCarron noted that Arm’s server growth is “due primarily to growth from Nvidia’s Grace CPU,” underscoring how AI-specific workloads are reshaping the processor landscape.
Outlook
Amd’s server gains and Arm’s rapid ascent signal a structural shift in the datacenter CPU market. While Intel remains dominant, its capacity constraints and flat server shipments leave room for competitors to capture share. The second half of 2026 will test whether memory supply issues temper growth, but the trajectory is clear: the server CPU market is no longer a two-player game, and AI demand is accelerating the diversification.
