Intel gains a PC processor market share from AMD

Intel Corp, the world's largest semiconductor company, gained market share in the third quarter from Advanced Micro Devices Inc, its nearest rival in personal computer processors, researcher IDC said.

Intel's share rose one percentage point to 82.6 percent, while Advanced Micro ended the quarter with 0.7 percent less at 16.5 percent, IDC analyst Shane Rau said in an e-mail.

"Overall, the PC microprocessor market earned significant unit and revenue growth in the third quarter of 2003," Rau said.

"The major suppliers, Intel and AMD, experienced notable unit growth and modest average selling-price growth over the second quarter of 2003," he said.

Processor shipments rose 22 percent in the third quarter from a year earlier, after gaining 14 percent in the second. Revenue increased 27 percent to about US$6.5 billion.

Compared with the second quarter, revenue grew 18 percent.

Rau his research showed that demand for computer-related equipment has returned to "normal." Component manufacturers tend to get more orders in the third quarter as PC makers stock up ahead of the start of the academic year, when students need new equipment, and the year-end holiday season, when demand peaks.

By mobile processor shipments increased 13.6 percent and desktop processor shipments climbed 13 percent. Advanced Micro's mobile processor shipments jumped 72 percent in the third quarter from the preceding three months.