Intel tops 80 percent of processor revenue
updated 03:40 pm EDT, Mon September 14, 2009
Intel at over 80 percent of CPU business
Intel has clawed back market share to where it makes more than four fifths of the revenue from processors in PCs today, iSuppli said today in a new study. The company now has 80.6 of the revenue from all processors in the computer business; it represents just a slight increase from the winter (79.6 percent) and from the same period a year earlier (79.1 percent) but is the highest level seen since 2005, when Intel reached an all-time high of 82.4 percent.
The upswing is thought to have its roots in the early signs of economic recovery as well as refreshes to its lineup during the period. As netbooks were one of the few categories to grow from year-to-year with 13 percent more units, Intel also benefited from the Atom's near-complete control of the mini notebook category. However, the chip's low price and an overall drop in the PC business led to reduced sales overall in spite of the lead.
AMD during the same period dropped 1.4 percent compared to the winter and 0.4 percent versus spring 2008, leaving it with just 11.5 percent of the market. The smaller of the two rivals has buoyed its efforts with its Phenom II desktop processors but has regularly struggled to compete in notebooks and netbooks, where its processors are often slower and run hotter than Intel equivalents. The launch of an updated line of Turion II, Athlon II, and Turion Neo X2 models has helped in the summer, but more important gains should occur with architecture changes in 2010.
