Advanced Micro Devices broke a streak of sequential quarterly market share losses to Intel in the first quarter with the first increase in share since late 2007, according to El Segundo, Calif.-based analyst firm iSuppli. AMD in the first quarter of 2009 had a 12.8 percent share of global microprocessor market revenue, which represents a 2.3 percent gain compared to the fourth quarter of 2008, iSuppli said. Intel's share of that market slipped quarter to quarter by 2.5 percent to 79.1 percent of the market, iSuppli said. However, both AMD and Intel posted declines in revenue during the first quarter of 2009 thanks to the economic downturn and a decline in the PC market. ISuppli estimated that the total global microprocessor market for all of 2009 will reach $28.6 billion, down 15.8 percent from $34 billion in 2008. Total revenue in the first quarter of 2009 was $6.9 billion, down 20.6 percent from $8.6 billion during the first quarter of 2008, iSuppli said. The iSuppli report includes all types of microprocessors, including x86, RISC and other general-purpose units. AMD's sequential market share growth was impressive given the economic downturn and the weakness in the PC and server markets, wrote Matthew Wilkins, iSuppli's principal analyst for compute platforms research, in a statement. "AMD increased its allocation of global microprocessor revenue due to strong performances in each area of its microprocessor portfolio, particularly in its notebook products," Wilkins wrote. AMD last gained market share on Intel in the fourth quarter of 2007, when Intel's share slipped to 78 percent. However, Intel's market share rose to 79 percent in the first quarter of 2008, and reached 79.2 percent in the second quarter, 80.3 percent in the third quarter and 81.6 percent in the fourth quarter. That growth in market share was attributed in part to Intel's Atom microprocessor sales thanks to a boom in netbook PC sales, as well as continued strength in its desktop, server and notebook PC sales, iSuppli said. The drop in Intel's share in the first quarter came with a contraction in PC and server sales, iSuppli said. See original article on CRN.com
Issue: 277 | March, 2010