Although the second quarter is considered to be a rather slow one when it comes to processor demand, this year, the worldwide PC microprocessor shipments reached a record level during Q2, says IDC. There was a 3.1 percent quarter over quarter increase in processor unit shipments, while the year over year shipments were 16.1 percent higher in the second quarter of 2008. Still, the middle and low end of the desktop PC processor and mobile PC processor market segments made the overall revenues drop by 4.5 percent quarter over quarter to a total of $7.7 billion.

"While sequential market growth is unusual in the second quarter of the calendar year, it's clear that, in 2Q08, Intel's processor shipments drove the growth," said Shane Rau, director of Semiconductors: Personal Computing research at IDC. "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."

When it comes to market share, Intel accounts for 79.7 percent on the overall unit base, going up by 0.9 percent, while AMD dropped 1.2 percent to a 19.7 percent market share.

Considering the form factor, Intel got 86.5 percent of the mobile PC processor area, gaining 1.3 percent, while AMD accounted for 12.6 percent, registering a 1.9 percent loss. Things look good for VIA Technologies, based in Taiwan, which earned 0.9 percent share, going up with 0.7 percent. The PC server/workstation processor segment has Intel again at the lead, with 86.2 percent share, yet marking a 0.8 percent loss. AMD gained 0.8 percent instead, earning 13.8 percent share. Intel earned 73.3 percent of the desktop PC processor segment, while AMD got 26.4 percent.

According to IDC, the PC processor market revenue will go up by 7.5 percent in 2008 to about $32.8 billion. "While processor unit shipments exceeded our forecast in 2Q08, 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."