PC microprocessor market remains stable

The worldwide PC microprocessor market is in a stable state, research from IDC has shown.

While shipments of PC microprocessors have declined in the second quarter of the year, ending June 2011, compared with the first quarter, they have done so by just 2.9 per cent.

Shipments have, however, increased slightly year on year, by 0.6 per cent on the same quarter of 2010.

In terms of revenue, the PC microprocessor market earned $9.49bn (£5.8bn), marking a decline of four per cent compared with the first quarter this year, and rising 5.4 per cent compared the same period last year.

In terms of market leadership, Intel still clearly leads the pack. The chip vendor claimed 79.3 per cent of the overall worldwide unit market share in the second quarter this year; although this was down 1.5 per cent compared with the first quarter 2011.

Meanwhile, rival AMD gained that 1.5 per cent of the market share to earn a 20.4 per cent share overall. VIA was the third-ranked manufacturer, claiming just 0.3 per cent of the market.

IDC also noted that both Intel and AMD's new platforms, Sandy Bridge and Fusion, contain integrated graphics processors (IGP).

The firm's tracking of these IGP processors indicates it rose to more than 60 per cent of total PC processor unit volume in the second quarter 2011.