PC microprocessor shipments

Worldwide PC microprocessor shipments in the third calendarquarter of 2009 (3Q09) rose substantially and to all-time recordlevels for a single quarter, according to new data from IDC. Thedata indicates that PC processor unit shipments in 3Q09 rose 23%compared to 2Q09, growth that is approximately double the normalgrowth in unit shipments for the same period. In terms of revenue,the PC processor market grew more than 14% quarter over quarter to$7.4 billion.

 

Looking at market performance by PC form factor, mobile PCprocessors continue to drive growth. Mobile PC processors, whichinclude Intel's Atom processors designed for mini-notebook PCs(which Intel calls "Netbooks"), increased 35.7% in 3Q09 compared to2Q09. Desktop PC processors grew 11.4% quarter over quarter and x86server processors grew 12.2% quarter over quarter.

 

"The story about 3Q09 leads with Atom processors being sold inmini-notebooks (a.k.a. netbooks) manufactured and sold in China,"said Shane Rau, director of Semiconductors: Personal Computingresearch at IDC. "While Atom processors led the PC processor marketto reach record unit shipments, on the revenue side, their lowaverage selling price led to notable price erosion, more than 7%.As a result, while market shipments rose 23.0% compared to 2Q09,market revenue grew less, 14.1% compared to 2Q09. Most meaningfulabout 3Q09 is that, since PC processor shipments overall justslightly exceeded shipments in 3Q08—which was itself a recordquarter at the time—we know that the processor market isrecovering."