PC processor market projects 17.6% growth

IDC did not indicate the number of processors for mobile and desktop computers and x86 servers it expects will ship. Nonetheless, with revenue growing faster than units, this trend implies increasing average selling prices in 2011.

Worldwide PC microprocessor shipments grew in the first quarter of 2011 by 1.6 per cent sequentially and by 7.4 per cent compared with Q1 10, IDC said. As a consequence it has raised its forecast for 2011 y-o-y growth to 10.3 per cent from 10.1 per cent.

In Q1 11 both Intel Corp. and Advanced Micro Devices Inc. grew unit shipments sequentially, according to IDC. "Due to the first full quarter shipping their Sandy Bridge and Fusion microprocessors with integrated graphics processors (IGP), processors with IGP grew to slightly over 50 per cent of market shipments for the first time," said Shane Rau, director of semiconductor personal computing research at IDC, in a statement.

In Q1 11, PC processor vendor shares overall were stable with Intel earning 80.8 per cent unit market share and AMD garnering 18.9 per cent, both flat compared to 4Q10. Via Technologies earned 0.2 per cent.

In Q1 11 by form factor, Intel earned 86.3 per cent share in the mobile PC processor segment, a gain of 0.2 per cent, AMD finished with 13.4 per cent, a loss of 0.1 per cent, and Via earned 0.3 per cent. In the PC server/workstation processor segment, Intel finished with 93.9 per cent market share, a loss of 0.3 per cent, while AMD earned 6.1 per cent, a gain of 0.3 per cent. In the desktop PC processor segment, Intel earned 72.4 per cent, a loss of 0.1 per cent, and AMD earned 27.4 per cent, a gain of 0.1 per cent.

"Generally, the demand environment for the second half of this year looks decent. The earthquake and tsunami had minor effects on the PC supply chain," said Rau.

- Peter Clarke
  EE Times

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