iSuppli fast facts on AMD’s Q2 earnings

EL SEGUNDO, USA: To support journalists’ coverage of Advanced Micro Devices Inc.’s second-quarter results, iSuppli Corp. is providing the following facts:

· Financial analysts expect AMD to report second-quarter revenue that is lower compared to the same period in 2008. This would follow the pattern of AMD’s main competitor Intel, which last week reported that second-quarter sales were down 15.3 percent compared to the same period in 2008, amounting to a $1.4 billion drop.

The decline is largely due to a fall in PC shipments—the major factor driving sales of the computer-oriented microprocessors sold by AMD and rival Intel.

· Based on a preliminary forecast made prior to the end of the second quarter, iSuppli estimates global PC unit shipments in the second quarter decreased by 5.2 percent compared to the same period in 2008.

Shipments in the second quarter of 2009 declined to 66.5 million units, down from 70.2 million in the second quarter of 2008. iSuppli will update this estimate when companies report actual second-quarter results. Fig. 1 presents annual and sequential growth rates for global PC shipments.

iSuppli Fig. 1: Preliminary Worldwide PC Quarterly Growth Forecast 2008-2010 (Percentage Change in Revenue Measured in US Dollars)Source: iSuppli, July 2009

· Based on a preliminary estimate from iSuppli made before the end of the second quarter, global revenue for all types of microprocessors -- including but not limited to the X86 chips sold by AMD and Intel -- declined to $6.9 billion in the second quarter, down 20.8 percent from $8.7 billion during the same period in 2008.

iSuppli will update this estimate when companies report actual second-quarter results.

· AMD is likely to forecast a stronger second half. Following a weak first half, PC shipments are expected to recover in the final six months of the year, according to iSuppli.

· In the third and fourth quarters, PC shipments are expected to rise sequentially by 11 and 8.9 percent, respectively. On a year-over-year basis, PC shipments are expected to rise by 11 percent in the third quarter and by 8.9 percent in the fourth, as presented in Fig. 1.

· iSuppli predicts global microprocessor revenue will rise on a sequential basis to $7.2 billion in the third quarter, up 4.8 percent from $6.9 billion in the second, based on iSuppli’s preliminary estimate.

In the fourth quarter, global microprocessor revenue will rise by 2.5 percent to reach $7.4 billion. Fig. 2 attached presents iSuppli’s preliminary quarterly microprocessor revenue forecast.

iSuppli Fig. 2: Preliminary Worldwide Quarterly Microprocessor Revenue Forecast (Millions of US Dollars)**Comprises all types of microprocessors, including x86, RISC and other types of general-purpose devices. This market share information is not simply limited to x86 microprocessors used in PCs.
Source: iSuppli, July 2009

· Intel Corp.’s year-long streak of sequential market-share gains in the global microprocessor business ended in the first quarter of 2009, as chief rival AMD staged a comeback, according to iSuppli Corp.

· Intel in the first quarter suffered a 2.5 point decrease in global microprocessor market share, with its portion of global revenue declining to 79.1 percent, down from 81.6 percent in the fourth quarter of 2008.

Meanwhile, AMD gained at a nearly equivalent rate, with its share in the first quarter rising by 2.3 points to 12.8 percent, up from 10.5 percent in the fourth quarter.