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Despite the harsh economy and dampened spending climate, worldwide PC microprocessor shipments in Q2 once again reached record levels, according to data released from IDC on Friday.

Reminding that Q2 is typically the slowest quarter of the year for processor demand, the research company reported that processor unit shipments grew 3.1% sequentially and 16.1% year over year in the June quarter, IDC said.

However, IDC further said that strong vendor price competition in the middle and low end of the desktop PC processor and mobile PC processor market segments caused overall market revenue to decline 4.5% sequentially in Q2 to $7.7 billion.
 
"While sequential market growth is unusual in the second quarter of the calendar year, it's clear that in Q2 Intel's processor shipments drove the growth," said Shane Rau (pictured, left), director of semiconductors PC research at IDC, in a statement.

"Intel's processor shipments alone grew nearly 4.3% over the first quarter and 20.8% year over year, while AMD's processor shipments were about flat."

According to IDC's data, Intel earned 79.7% of Q2's market share on an overall unit basis, a gain of 0.9% from Q1, while AMD earned 19.7%, a loss of 1.2% from Q1.

Specifically in the mobile PC processor segment, Intel took an 86.5% share of the Q2 market, a increase of 1.3% on Q1, while AMD took a 12.6% share, a loss of 1.9% on Q1, and VIA Technologies took a 0.9% share, an increase of 0.7% on Q1.

Also see, "Embedded x86: keystone of your non-PC design?"
In the desktop PC processor segment, Intel claimed 73.3% market share and AMD claimed 26.4% share, both near flat quarter over quarter. IDC noted that Intel's mobile PC processor shipments outpaced its desktop PC processor shipments for the first time in the June quarter.

Meanwhile, in the PC server/workstation processor segment, Intel had 86.2% market share, a loss of 0.8% on Q1, and AMD had 13.8% market share, a gain of 0.8% on Q1, according to IDC.

Looking to the full year, IDC forecasted PC processor market revenue will grow 7.5% to more than $32.8 billion.

"While processor unit shipments exceeded our forecast in Q2, Intel's aggressive approach to the market, through both product and pricing, point to a major, supply-side variable. However, economic concerns cause us to maintain our conservative outlook for the second half of the year," Rau said.

By Suzanne Deffree, Managing Editor, News - Electronic News

See also: Electronics Weekly's focus on x86 microprocessors, a roundup of content related to x86 microprocessor technologies and developments.

See also: Electronics Weekly's Focus on Intel, a roundup of content on the chip giant's technology. As well as presenting news coverage from Electronics Weekly, we draw on wider resources available on the Web.