Capitalizing on a mild recovery in PC demand, Intel Corp. in the second quarter managed to expand its lead in the global microprocessor market to levels not seen in nearly four years, according to iSuppli Corp.
Intel in the second quarter of 2009 accounted for 80.6 percent of global microprocessor revenue, up 1.4 points from 79.1 percent during the same period in 2008, and a 1.5 point rise from the first quarter of 2009. This gave the company the largest share of global microprocessor revenue since it claimed 82.4 percent of revenue in the third quarter of 2005.
“Intel benefitted as the global PC market took a first small step toward recovery in the second quarter, with global shipments rising by 1 percent from the first quarter,” said Matthew Wilkins, principal analyst of compute platforms research for iSuppli. “However, with PC shipments still down compared to a year earlier, Intel actually suffered a decline in microprocessor revenue compared to a year earlier, as did chief rival Advanced Micro Devices Inc. (AMD).”
Intel in the second quarter enjoyed strong demand for its new-generation products across all segments, including desktops, notebooks and servers. However, in the overall PC market, only the notebook segment produced growth compared to the second quarter of 2008, at 13 percent. Both the desktop PC and entry-level server segments declined on a year-over basis.
In contrast, AMD lost 0.4 percentage points of market share compared to a year earlier, and declined by 1.4 points of share on a sequential basis from the first quarter of 2009.
“AMD didn’t benefit from the small sequential rise in PC sales because its average microprocessor pricing was lower than that from the first quarter of 2009,” Wilkins said.