AMD gained 4.6 percent of the CPU market this past quarter, making it the first time in five quarters that AMD’s made up some ground against Intel. It’s now got 22.3 percent to Intel’s 77.3 percent, according to analysts at IDC.
AMD’s growth can be attributed to aggressive pricing and an uptick in desktop CPU sales in the face of slower shipments from Intel. According to IDG News Service:
“AMD saw its market share increase because of a pricing advantage over Intel and a strong increase in desktop shipments, said Shane Rau, research director at IDC. Sequentially, AMD chip shipments increased 13 percent while Intel’s shipments declined 16 percent.
Intel’s sequential decline was partly due to suppliers holding back on purchases as they tried to clear up excess inventory of mobile processors, especially Atom processors for netbooks. Shipments of Atom processors recorded a sequential decline of 33 percent in the first quarter of 2009.”
Processor sales are still down about 13% from last year, though, and “may continue to decline as customers hold back on PC purchases during the recession, Rau said.”
[via PC World/IDG]