IDC cuts 2011 processor sales forecast owing to 'economic headwinds'

IDC has cut its projected 2011 growth rate for microprocessor sales to 9.3 per cent, after a 2.9 per cent decline in shipments during the second quarter.

The period is traditionally the slowest of the year, but the latest data shows that sales are up only 0.6 per cent in comparison to this time last year, and that global revenues for the quarter were down four per cent to $9.49bn.

Shane Rau, director of research at IDC, said that the fall seemed worse than it was because of the extra calendar week at the start of the year, but that "economic headwinds" in developed markets are continuing to keep sales flat.

Intel's overall market share dropped by 1.5 per cent to 79.3 per cent, compared to 20.4 per cent for AMD and 0.3 per cent for Via.

AMD gained ground in the desktop and laptop markets, but failed to make any headway in the server and workstation sector, losing 0.6 per cent of sales to leave Intel with 94.5 per cent.

"The Fusion processors AMD has launched, the C, E and now A series, have helped its market share overall," Rau told V3.

"Desktop PCs are more about consumer exposure, one of AMD's strengths, and it can hold its own there, although sales are slowing in favour of mobiles. AMD hasn't participated as deeply in mobile but it is getting some traction."

Intel will remain dominant on the server side, Rau said, as none of the major OEMs is shipping AMD systems in large volumes, although the analyst pointed out that AMD's latest multi-core processors could help its progress.