Competition Heats up Over Processors, Intel’s Dominance Threatened

Intel is a processor juggernaut. No other company has been able to hold a candle to Intel for the past decade, and it shows. When you go out and try to buy a laptop, what chips do you see advertised as being inside? Intel. If you ask someone which chips their PC has, the answer is Intel. And that’s terrible for the consumer! A lack of meaningful competition means that things stagnate, and prices rise. Well, there’s good news: Intel’s competitors are closing in. Today we’ve got a quick roundup of the companies that are making processors to compete with the massive CPU manufacturer. 

AMD 

The biggest competition that comes to mind when you think of processors is AMD and Intel. However, AMD’s reputation has always been that they play second fiddle to Intel. However, after AMD unveiled their monster 32-Core Threadripper 2, things look a bit different. The absurdly-powerful Threadripper blows all of Intel’s processors out of the water, even when Intel’s dubious experimental prototypes. It seems AMD might be able to carve a niche for themselves as high-end makers of speedy processors. 

That said, AMD alone can’t hope to change the face of the CPU market. Thankfully for consumers, they’re not the only major player gunning for Intel. You see, Intel has caught no end of flak for overlooking the smartphone market. That blunder may yet come back to haunt them. 

Qualcomm 

That brings us to Qualcomm, a company you may not be familiar with. Qualcomm makes processors called System on Chip that run in Android smartphones. The best part? They’re actually quite powerful. While they likely won’t be putting their CPUs in desktops anytime soon, Qualcomm is aiming to break into the laptop market. In a partnership with Windows, Qualcomm has begun shipping processors in Always Connected PCs. The Always Connected line aims to make laptops more comparable to smartphones by giving them LTE connection and higher battery life.  

Qualcomm is the ideal manufacturer for processors for such a project, as they have a great track record with efficient chips that conserve battery. Balancing power use with performance is a delicate process that Qualcomm is adept at, making them a critical aspect of breaking up Intel’s stranglehold. While AMD beats Intel in the desktop space, Qualcomm can outperform them on laptops. This could get Intel moving again, making their processors better, faster and cheaper. There is, however, a third threat looming over Intel. 

Apple to Make their own Processors 

For the better part of a decade, Intel has provided the CPUs for Apple’s laptops and desktops. In 2006 Apple started using them instead of their in-house PowerPC chips that had failed to compete with Intel. That might all change soon, though. Apple has opened their own engineering lab, and rumor has it that they have been snatching up prior Intel employees. For years, the processors in iPhones have been made in-house by Apple. It seems like the smartphone giant might be posed to make the leap to putting their own chips in their computers, too. 

The iPhone X, for instance, sports an A11 Bionic chip that puts all other cutting-edge smartphone CPUs to shame. If Apple scales that same tech up and ships Macs with it, Intel could be in for some serious competition. Between their alliance with Apple being under threat and two competitors moving in on their once-uncontested claim, things look to be heating up for Intel. And that’s awesome for the consumer. When companies are forced to change, adapt and compete, the quality of their products is sure to go up. And we’re sure to reap the benefits!