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Worldwide PC microprocessor unit shipments and revenues increased 2.1 percent and 2.5 percent, respectively, in the third quarter over the second quarter, according to the latest PC processor study from IT research firm IDC. Compared with the year-ago quarter, worldwide PC microprocessor unit shipments and revenues increased 8.6 percent and 24.1 percent, respectively.
The average sequential change in unit shipments between a calendar year’s second quarter and its third quarter is an increase of 10.6 percent. For revenues, the average sequential change is an increase of 9.0 percent. The report noted these increases represent lower performance than usual for a third calendar quarter.
“Market demand for processors was weak in July and in August,” said Shane Rau, director of Semiconductors: Personal Computing research at IDC. “OEMs have become very reactive to any hint of slackening end demand. And, when they cut their PC build orders, like they did in late 2Q10 and the first half of 3Q10, not only did they cut their processor orders, they caused their contract manufacturers to cut orders for commodity components. The whole supply chain is skittish.”
Comparing market performance in third quarter against the second quarter by PC form factor, mobile PC processor unit shipments rose 1.6 percent in the third quarter, PC server processors rose 4.1 percent and desktop PC processors rose 2.4 percent. Comparing this year’s third quarter against 2009’s third quarter by PC form factor, mobile PC processor unit shipments rose 13.3 percent, PC server processors rose 24.4 percent and desktop PC processors rose 1.7 percent.
For the overall worldwide PC microprocessor market in the third quarter of 2010, Intel earned 80.4 percent unit market share, a loss of 0.3 percent, while Advanced Micro Devices earned 19.2 percent, a gain of 0.2 percent, and Via Technologies earned 0.4 percent, a gain of 0.1 percent.
In 3Q10 unit share by form factor, Intel earned 85.9 percent share in the mobile PC processor segment, a loss of 0.2 percent. AMD finished the quarter with 13.7 percent (unchanged), and Via earned 0.4 percent, a gain of 0.2 percent. In the PC server/workstation processor segment, Intel finished with 93.7 percent market share, a gain of 0.2 percent, and AMD earned 6.3 percent, a loss of 0.2 percent. In the desktop PC processor segment, Intel earned 71.8 percent, a loss of 0.4 percent, while AMD earned 27.8 percent, a gain of 0.5 percent, and Via earned 0.4 percent.
“We believe that the fourth quarter of 2010 will be a decent quarter, and we reiterate that the second half of the year will be seasonal given the early build for Intel’s Sandy Bridge and AMD’s Fusion architecture launches,” Rau said. “However, year-over-year growth in the second half will be lower than that seen in the first half of the year. For 2011, we believe that, even though the consumer segment will remain stalled in developed regions, IT executives will see PC upgrades as a priority over the next 12 months, which should result in double digit growth in PC systems and PC processors units next year.”