Microprocessor market sees weaker demand in 2008
By James Carbone -- Purchasing, 3/12/2009 2:00:00 AM
The global PC microprocessor market saw an increase of just 0.9% in 2008 as unit shipments and revenue plunged in the fourth quarter, according to researcher IDC.
In the fourth quarter, worldwide PC processor unit shipments declined 17% from the third quarter and 11.4% from the fourth quarter of 2007. Revenue fell 18% from the third quarter and 22.2% from the fourth quarter of 2007 to $6.78 billion
For the full year, however, PC processor unit shipments increased 10% while revenue grew just 0.9% to $30.8 billion, according to IDC.
"The decline in PC processor unit shipments in the fourth quarter was the worst sequential decline since IDC started tracking processor shipments in 1996," says Shane Rau, director of semiconductors and personal computing research at IDC. "The market fell of a cliff in October and November.''
In the fourth quarter, Intel garnered an 81.9% unit market share, a gain of 1.1%, while AMD's share fell 0.9% to 17.7%. VIA Technologies earned a 0.4% share.
For the full year Intel's share of the microprocessor market was 80.3%, a gain of 2.9% from 2007. AMD's share was 19.2% down 3.1% and VIA Technologies share was 0.4%.
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