Chipmaker Advanced Micro Devices gained a pinch of market share year over year against rival Intel in a market that seems to be improving.
Sunnyvale, Calif.-based AMD saw its market share in the second quarter of 2003 inch up to 15.7 percent, a tenth-of-a-point increase from its market share of 15.6 percent in the same period a year ago, according to statistics compiled by Mercury Research. Intel, meanwhile, saw its market share slip to 82.5 percent in the second quarter, from 82.8 percent in the same period the year before. Other manufacturers, a grouping that includes Transmeta, increased their collective market share from 1.7 percent to 1.8 percent.
The big news for the quarter, however, is that the processor market appears to be on the rebound. Microprocessor shipments were actually slightly below the norm in the second quarter. (PC shipments rose in the quarter, but sometimes the two markets aren't synchronized because of inventory overhand and shipment schedules). But a record number of portable components was shipped. Notebook chips sell for more than their desktop counterparts and are generally more profitable. Overall shipments are also rising. "There's a lot of evidence that the third and fourth quarters are both going to be growth quarters as they normally are, seasonally, and pretty good growth quarters at that," said Dean McCarron, principal analyst at Mercury. "The other thing that was very apparent was that the second was a record quarter for portable component shipments.
"Mobile was the bright spot in a not-so-bright quarter," McCarron added. "It's not necessarily a slam dunk, but someone who's looking for a system for basic utility--a lot of them are choosing the notebook versus a desktop."
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