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The figure represents a 51 per cent jump from the 7.4 per cent of a year ago and is a psychological boost as the share reaches double figures.

Although the figures may not result in a rush to sell Intel shares, the research will prove to be gloomy reading in Santa Clara. The AMD server market share for x86 processors is entirely due to sales of Opteron-based servers at the expense of Intel's Xeon. So while Intel is still sitting with a commanding 88.8 per cent market share, it is down from the 100 per cent it had a few years ago.

The Opteron will have received a further boost with the launch of the dual-core designs this summer while Intel is not expected to ship dual-core Xeons in any great quantity till next year.