Mercury Research revealed last week AMD has gained some ground this quarter on its ever-dominant competitor, and a second study from IDC comes in with similar findings -- the processor-maker saw sequential growth in Q1 2009 of 4.6%, rising to a 22.3% share, with Intel slipping 4.7% down to 77.3%.

Pricing advantages over Intel and a surge in desktop shipments are attributed to AMD's growth, while Intel was mostly affected by a drop in netbook CPU sales by 33%, attributed to suppliers clearing up excess inventory.

In keeping with expected Q4 to Q1 sales drops, microprocessor number were down 10.9 percent compared to the same period last year, with revenues falling 25.1 percent.

We look forward to seeing how AMD's latest lineup bodes for its share this year; our review (below) indicates they're ready to properly contend with Intel for the first time in a long time.