Worldwide PC Microprocessor Sales Jump 16 Percent in Q3 2011

Worldwide PC microprocessor sales rose to $10.7 billion in the third quarter of 2011, a 16.1 percent increase over the same period last year, according to researcher International Data Corp.

Unit sales for Q3 2011 rose 5.2 percent compared to the same quarter last year, IDC said. When viewed on a sequential basis, global PC microprocessor revenue climbed 12.2 percent and units rose 6.7 percent over the immediately prior quarter in 2011.

The average selling price (ASP) for PC microprocessors rose for the eighth quarter in a row to a level not seen since Q1 2008, said Shane Rau, IDC director, semiconductors. He said that Intel Corp.’s Sandy Bridge and Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) Inc.’s Fusion microprocessors are gaining in popularity driving ASP’s higher while low-end less expensive processors such as Intel’s Atom are declining in unit sales.

"The average selling price (ASP) that OEMs pay for PC microprocessors rose more than 5% in 3Q11," said Rau.

Intel was the share leader for Q3 2011 at 80.2 percent of the market, a gain of .9 percent over the prior quarter. AMD’s market share slid .7 percent to 19.7 percent when compared with the previous period.

When viewed by form factor, Intel posted a 82.3 percent share of the mobile PC processor segment, a loss of 2.1% for the third quarter 2011. AMD recorded a gain of 2.4 percent to a 17.6 percent share for the period, IDC said.

In the PC server/workstation processor segment, Intel finished with 95.1 percent market share, a gain of 0.6 percent while AMD lost .6 percent share to 4.9 percent of the market. In the desktop PC processor segment, Intel gained 4.8 percent to a 75.8 percent share and AMD slid 4.8 percent to a 24.1 percent share of the market.

IDC said that it is paring its PC processor forecast for desktop, mobile and x86 server unit sales for 2011 from 9.3 percent to 7.3 percent growth.