Intel grows market share in 2008

Analyst firm iSuppli's research shows how Intel and AMD are squeezing rivals out of the market

Chip giant Intel snatched market share away from rival AMD every quarter of last year, according to market watcher iSuppli.

The analyst firm revealed that for Q4 2008, Intel accounted for 81.8 per cent of global microprocessor revenue, up 0.88 per cent from its 80.96 per cent share in Q3 2008. This was partly due to the success of its Atom chip in the emerging netbook sector, iSuppli claimed.

Matthew Wilkins, principal analyst at iSuppli, said: “Intel grew its share of microprocessor in every quarter of 2008 on a sequential basis, effectively using each quarter as a building block for the next. During this time, Intel’s low-priced Atom has become increasingly popular as the netbook market has gained steam.”

AMD lost market share on both a year-on-year and sequential basis in Q4 2008, iSuppli claimed. The vendor accounted for 10.6 per cent of worldwide microprocessor revenue in Q4, a decrease of 3.5 per cent from the 14.1 per cent it held in Q4 2007.

For the full year 2008, Intel grew its market share by 1.6 per cent, again stealing ground on AMD and other rivals.

Wilkins added: “While 2008 has been a challenging year for AMD, the company has undergone a number of strategic initiatives, such as its moves to reduce its production assets. And with its 45nm products now shipping, AMD is better positioned in 2009 than it was in 2008.”

However the two companies combined controlled 92.5 per cent of the market, up from 90.9 per cent in 2006.

“Clearly things are getting tougher if you are a microprocessor supplier and your name is not Intel or AMD,” Wilkins added.