Chipmaker AMD, which only recently was on the brink of being annihilated by dominant rival Intel, seems to be on a roll lately with victories coming from the courtroom and in the market place.

After Intel capitulated last year when it agreed to pay $1.25 billion to AMD to settle a legal case, another positive development greeted the company recently when a new report from research IDC showed that AMD gained market share in the worldwide microprocessor market at the expense of Intel.

According to the survey, in the fourth quarter of 2009, Intel earned 80.5 percent unit market share, a loss of 0.6 percent, while AMD earned 19.4 percent, a gain of 0.7 percent, and VIA Technologies earned 0.2 percent.

In the full year 2009, Intel earned 79.7 percent unit market share, a loss of 0.7 percent, while AMD earned 20.1 percent, a gain of 0.8 percent, and VIA Technologies earned 0.3 percent.

It can be remembered that AMD spun off its manufacturing arm, called GlobalFoundries, to concentrate on research and marketing of its semicon products. This move, it appears, has paid off.

Singapore-based regional executives said the increase in the company’s market pie indicated that the AMD is back on track and that its strategy is hitting its target.

Ryan Lim, marketing manager for Southeast Asia of AMD, said the chipmaker’s performance is expected to become even stronger this year as it rolls out its “Vision” branding campaign and in 2011 when it unveils an integrated chip that combines the graphics chip with the processor.

Lim scoffed at Intel’s recent launch of its own integrated chip for its iCore line. “I heard that performance of the chips was not good and that the prices were very high,” he said in an interview.

The executive said AMD is not bothered at all that Intel jumped the gun on them and introduced an integrated chip a full year in advance. “We’ll just allow them to pave the road for us, so the market will be ready when we come in,” he said.

Lim stressed that AMD’s acquisition of ATI, the graphics chipmaker, has given the company a tremendous boost that would surely pose a headache to Intel.

“We’re the best in the graphics department. Unless Intel buys NVIDIA, the game will change in our favor. But then again, even NVIDIA is already late in the technology race,” Lim said, referring to the graphics chip manufacturer.

Consistent with the company’s position that it won’t intrude into the netbook segment, Lim said AMD is concentrating more on the notebook market. “We’re not in the sub-$300 market because we need to focus on our competencies. Anyway, the netbook is expected to taper off soon,” he said.

The AMD official said the Philippines is a big market in the Southeast region and that the company is bent on expanding its local staff. He said AMD is also intensifying its relationship with local OEM (original equipment manufacturers) such as Red Fox, Acer, Lenovo, and HP and working beyond the do-it-yourself (DIY or whitebox) market.

“We’re taking it to next level,” Lim said.