Report: Microprocessor Shipments, Revenue Increase Slightly In Q3

According to the report, microprocessor unit shipments increased 2.1 percent from Q2 to Q3, while revenue from those units rose 2.5 percent during that period. Intel claimed an 80.4 percent share of the microprocessor market in Q3, which is down 0.3 percent sequentially. Meanwhile, main rival AMD gained 0.2 percent to get to a total market share of 19.2 percent.

Despite the positive numbers, the overall market achieved significantly less-than-average growth between Q2 and Q3 according to the report, which estimates the average sequential increase in shipments over this period at 10.6 percent, and the average revenue increase at 9.0 percent.

In addition, the market is coming off of a sluggish second quarter due to the perception of receding end-user demand affecting the supply chain, according to IDC.

"Market demand for processors was weak in July and in August," Shane Rau, director of semiconductors personal computing research at IDC, said in a statement. "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 [Q2] and the first half of [Q3], 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."

Compared to 2009, however, IDC found that the overall PC microprocessor unit shipments increased 8.6 percent, while revenues rose 24.1 percent. Furthermore, given the arrival of integrated CPU and GPU offerings from the main players, Intel's Sandy Bridge and AMD's Fusion processors, the overall market is expected to perform well in Q4 and to continue that momentum in the coming year, according to IDC.

"We believe that the fourth quarter of 2010 will be a decent quarter," said Rau, "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."