AMD gains on Intel during wobbly Q2 for chip market
Challenger lands a blow on market's alpha male as microprocessor space suffers decline
AMD gained ground on arch rival Intel during a so-so second quarter for the PC microprocessor market, figures from IDC have found.
Shipment volumes in Q2 declined 2.9 per cent sequentially, while revenue was down four per cent to $9.49bn (£5.8bn). During the quarter Intel and AMD pushed their Sandy Bridge and Fusion chips hard. Both feature integrated graphics processors (IGP) and IDC claims IGPs now represent more than three fifths of all chip shipments.
During Q2 Intel's overall market share dropped 1.5 points sequentially to 79.3 per cent, while AMD's rose by the same amount to 20.4 per cent. VIA Technologies held firm at 0.3 per cent.
In the mobile PC space Intel is more dominant, but its market share still slipped almost two points to 84.4 per cent, with AMD growing its slice of the market from 13.4 to 15.2 per cent between Q1 and Q2. VIA nudged its share up to 0.4 per cent.
The PC server sector is Intel's most fertile hunting ground, with the world's largest chip maker snaffling a 94.5 per cent chunk of the market in Q2. This represents a sequential rise of 0.6 points. AMD held the remainder of the market.
In the desktop arena, AMD enjoyed more healthy gains, growing market share by 1.5 points to 28.9 per cent. Intel's share declined by the same amount to 70.9 per cent.
For the whole of 2011, IDC has moderated its shipment growth forecast for the microprocessor market from 10.3 to 9.3 per cent. The analyst chalked up the reduction to "economic headwinds in developed regions that are affecting consumer demand".
Shane Rau, director of semiconductors: personal computing research at IDC, said: "The first quarter of 2011 was better than most first quarters due to the extra calendar week. So the sequential comparison is not surprising. If we took off that extra week, the performance between the two quarters probably would have seen a slight sequential uptick from Q1 to Q2."