Intel takes back lead in U.S. retail

Intel is back on top in retail in the United States, and it can thank Toshiba.

The Santa Clara, Calif.-based chip giant saw its share of computer processors sold in retail outlets in the United States rise from 42.2 percent in May to 51.2 percent in June, according to Current Analysis. Meanwhile, the percentage of PCs running processors from Advanced Micro Devices declined from 57.4 percent in May to 48.5 percent in June.

The shift came because of an emphasis on inexpensive notebooks containing Celeron M chips, according to Sam Bhavnani, director of research at Current Analysis. In notebooks, Intel expanded its market share from 57.3 percent in May to 66.2 percent in June. AMD's notebook share dropped from 42.3 percent in May to 33.4 percent in June. A lot of those Celeron notebooks were Toshiba models selling for $599 and less, Bhavnani said.

Intel steadily lost market in 2005 and continued to lose ground in 2006. But since the first part of the year, Intel executives have said the company would become more aggressive due to manufacturing advances and new chips. Price cuts have also dented AMD.

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