If you read the article you will see that most of the decline is related to the weak flash memory market which has been reported and discussed quite a bit for last couple of months. No surprise here. Plus the other factor is obviously the slump in consumer spending which has caused both companies to slash prices to find that level where they can entice consumers to part with their money. Intel is in same boat here, but is not seeing record p4 sales. The true news for most athlon fans is the record sales of athlon and duron units. This does in no way effect their continual assualt on gaining market share.
By the way what was the reported expected decline in intel? I believe it was a bit more in term of percentage. Obvious their total decline is more then amd makes in a quarter period.
I think if anything this shows that the price cuts are not drastically effecting them (AMD)in a way which could jeopardize the company. The flash memory market is weak and so you shift you resources to what is hitting. Making more cpu's should be the goal as supply is probably more of a fear to them.
I think amd is weathering the global slowdown better then most high-tech companies.