EL SEGUNDO, CA – Intel gained momentum in the worldwide microprocessor business in the first quarter, while rival Advanced Micro Devices continued its long-term increase in market share, according to iSuppli Corp.
 
In the first quarter, Intel accounted for 79.7% of global microprocessor revenue, up 1.2 points sequentially. However, Intel’s microprocessor revenue market share was down by 0.7 points year-over-year.
 
In contrast, AMD lost market share on a sequential basis in the first quarter, taking 13% of global revenue, down 1.1 points sequentially. On the other hand, the company managed to increase its share by 2.2 points year-over-year.
 
Combined, AMD and Intel accounted for 92.7% of total microprocessor revenues in the first quarter, up 1.4 points year-over-year.
 
“Intel was the short-term winner in the first quarter microprocessor market,” observed Matthew Wilkins, principal analyst, compute platforms for iSuppli. “But over the previous 12-month period, the trend is reversed, with AMD growing its share.”
 
About half of AMD’s long-term growth came at the expense of Intel. The remainder came out of the market-share of smaller suppliers, says the research firm.
 
iSuppli’s latest global PC forecast calls for unit shipment growth of 10.5% in 2008. First-quarter results were encouraging, with global PC unit shipments rising to 69.9 million units, up 12.1% compared to the same period last year.
 
Notebook shipments were strong, with growth of more than 30% compared to the first quarter of 2007. In contrast, desktop PC shipments in the first quarter were essentially flat compared to a year earlier.
 
Reflecting the robust demand situation, both Intel and AMD noted their ASPs did not decrease sequentially. This price stability is another indication that price pressure has decreased and the pricing war between the two microprocessor suppliers has abated, according to iSuppli.