Intel, AMD take battle to new ultra-thin laptops

The stakes are rising. AMD in June launched a dual-core version of its ultra-thin chip and said it will launch a second generation of chips in the second half of the year that it says will nearly double the battery life of the first.

"Some people are suggesting that AMD could step in and pick up some of Intel's market share, but I'm not too sure. AMD doesn't have the same range of chips that Intel has right now, and it's difficult for me to see how they can really change the current state of play," Daiwa Institute of Research analyst Pranab Sarmah said.

(Additional reporting by Kelvin Soh in Taipei; Editing by Edwin Chan and Tim Dobbyn)