Intel back on form in buoyant semiconductor market
Gartner delivers more bad news for the tablet market
Intel has put two years of declining semiconductor sales behind it as it finally returned to growth in the global semiconductor market last year, grabbing share from its rivals in the PC space.
Global semiconductor revenue grew 7.9 per cent annually to $339.8bn (£223.6bn) in 2014 after the top 25 manufacturers outperformed the total market and collectively grew 11.7 per cent year on year, according to Gartner.
Intel retained its crown as market leader after returning to revenue growth after two years of slumping sales.
Gartner said the firm is reaping the benefits of last year's rejig.
"The company reorganised itself into five new business units in 2014, with the Datacentre Group continuing to be the most stable unit for the company," the analyst said. "Intel is on pace to reach its goal of 40 million tablet processors in 2014, although these processors are being shipped at significantly discounted prices with incentives.
"On the PC front, Intel continued to gain market share from AMD, and Gartner expects volume increases for both Intel's notebook and desktop platforms compared with 2013."
Intel has maintained the top spot for 23 quarters in a row and grabbed 15 per cent share of the overall market, down slightly from last year's figure of 16.5 per cent.
Yesterday, Gartner said the tablet market will grow only eight per cent annually this year after it "collapsed" last year.
The analyst had more bad news for the market today.
"In 2014, we saw a return to production growth in the traditional PC sector, after a 10.1 per cent decline in 2013," said Andrew Norwood, research vice president at Gartner.
"The smartphone market continued to perform well, with production growth of around 34 per cent, down slightly from 39.5 per cent in 2013, although there was a distinct shift to utility and basic smartphones away from premium handsets. Tablet production, however, experienced a sharp slowdown from last year."