Date: 11/11/2010

The PC specific processor sales grew modestly in 3rd quarter 2010

The Intel and AMD’s revenues for 3rd quarter 2010 indicates the PC targeted processor units shipments has shown only a modest growth in 3rd Q2010.

Intel reported a third-quarter revenue of $11.1 billion, growth of 2.77% compared a revenue of $10.8 billion in 2nd quarter 2010, this include sales of all types of processor chips including server, PC and embedded. The PC processor’s sales what Intel calls as “PC Client Group” revenue were up 3 percent sequentially where much of the sales is in portable domain.

Where as AMD reported a third-quarter revenue of $1.62 billion, drop by 1.82% compared a revenue of $1.65 billion in 2nd quarter 2010, again this include sales of all types of chips by AMD. AMD said its Computing Solutions segment revenue was flat sequentially and up 13 percent year-over-year, again driven by processors for portable computers.

The semiconductor and technology market analysis and researching company IDC has reported worldwide PC microprocessor unit shipments and revenues in the third calendar quarter of 2010 (3Q10) increased 2.1% and 2.5%, respectively, compared to 2Q10. Compared to 3Q09, worldwide PC microprocessor unit shipments and revenues in the third calendar quarter of 2010 (3Q10) increased 8.6% and 24.1%, respectively.

"Market demand for processors was weak in July and in August," said Shane Rau director of Semiconductors: Personal Computing research at IDC. "OEMs have become very reactive to any hint of slackening end demand. And, when they cut their PC build orders, like they did in late 2Q10 and the first half of 3Q10, not only did they cut their processor orders, they caused their contract manufacturers to cut orders for commodity components. The whole supply chain is skittish."

Other market trend observations by IDC includes:

1. The average sequential change in unit shipments between a calendar year's second quarter and its third quarter is an increase of 10.6%. For revenues, the average sequential change is an increase of 9.0%. So, these increases represent lower performance than usual for a third calendar quarter.
2.Comparing market performance in 3Q10 against 2Q10 by PC form factor, mobile PC processor unit shipments rose 1.6% in 3Q10, PC server processors rose 4.1%, and desktop PC processors rose 2.4%. Comparing 3Q10 against 3Q09 by PC form factor, mobile PC processor unit shipments rose 13.3% in 3Q10, PC server processors rose 24.4%, and desktop PC processors rose 1.7%.

3Q10 Vendor Highlights provided by IDC:

1. For the overall worldwide PC microprocessor market in 3Q10, Intel earned 80.4% unit market share, a loss of 0.3%, while AMD earned 19.2%, a gain of 0.2%, and VIA Technologies earned 0.4%, a gain of 0.1%.
2. In 3Q10 unit share by form factor, Intel earned 85.9% share in the mobile PC processor segment, a loss of 0.2%. AMD finished the quarter with 13.7% (unchanged) and VIA earned 0.4%, a gain of 0.2%. In the PC server/workstation processor segment, Intel finished with 93.7% market share, a gain of 0.2% and AMD earned 6.3%, a loss of 0.2%. In the desktop PC processor segment, Intel earned 71.8%, a loss of 0.4%; AMD earned 27.8%, a gain of 0.5%, and VIA earned 0.4%.

Market Outlook by IDC:

"We believe that the fourth quarter of 2010 will be a decent quarter," added Rau, "And we reiterate that the second half of the year will be seasonal given the early build for Intel's Sandy Bridge and AMD's Fusion architecture launches. However, year-over-year growth in the second half will be lower than that seen in the first half of the year. For 2011, we believe that, even though the consumer segment will remain stalled in developed regions, IT executives will see PC upgrades as a priority over the next 12 months which should result in double digit growth in PC systems and PC processors units next year."