Worldwide PC MPU unit shipments and revenues rise modestly in Q3 compared to Q2

SAN MATEO, USA: Worldwide PC microprocessor unit shipments and revenues in the third calendar quarter of 2010 (3Q10) increased 2.1 percent and 2.5 percent, respectively, compared to 2Q10, according to the latest PC processor study from International Data Corp. (IDC).

Compared to 3Q09, worldwide PC microprocessor unit shipments and revenues in the third calendar quarter of 2010 (3Q10) 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 percent. So, 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 3Q10 against 2Q10 by PC form factor, mobile PC processor unit shipments rose 1.6 percent in 3Q10, PC server processors rose 4.1 percent, and desktop PC processors rose 2.4 percent. Comparing 3Q10 against 3Q09 by PC form factor, mobile PC processor unit shipments rose 13.3 percent in 3Q10, PC server processors rose 24.4 percent, and desktop PC processors rose 1.7 percent.

3Q10 vendor highlights
For the overall worldwide PC microprocessor market in 3Q10, Intel earned 80.4 percent unit market share, a loss of 0.3 percent, while AMD 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; AMD earned 27.8 percent, a gain of 0.5 percent, and VIA earned 0.4 percent.