Both AMD and Intel's desktop CPU sales are falling off a cliff but Ryzen is falling a little slower

Both AMD and Intel are experiencing a decline in desktop CPU sales, but AMD is losing market share at a slower pace compared to Intel, according to Mercury Research. Despite overall growth in the CPU market, desktop CPU shipments from these two companies saw a significant decrease in Q2 2026, with a downturn of over 20% year-on-year. AMD, however, managed to gain market share both sequentially and on a year-on-year basis, partly due to smaller declines in their desktop CPU shipments.

The decline in desktop CPU sales is attributed to the high cost of building a complete system, including motherboards, RAM, and storage, which have become increasingly expensive due to a global memory shortage. This phenomenon is not limited to desktop CPUs; the global smartphone market is also expected to decline by 14.3% this year due to cost pressures. The memory and component shortage, caused by the AI server boom, is expected to impact various products and industries until at least 2030.