Intel Corp.’s year-long streak of sequential market-share gains in the global microprocessor business ended in the first quarter of 2009, as chief rival Advanced Micro Devices Inc. (AMD) staged a comeback, according to iSuppli Corp.

Microprocessor giant Intel suffered a 2.5 point decrease in share, with its portion of global revenue declining to 79.1 percent, down from 81.6 percent in the fourth quarter of 2008. Meanwhile, AMD gained share at a nearly equivalent rate, with its share in the first quarter rising by 2.3 points to 12.8 percent, up from 10.5 percent in the fourth quarter.

“After losing share to Intel on a sequential basis during three out of four quarters in 2008, AMD managed to reverse the trend in the first quarter of 2009,” said Matthew Wilkins, iSuppli’s principal analyst for compute platforms research. “AMD increased its allocation of global microprocessor revenue due to strong performances in each area of its microprocessor portfolio, particularly in its Notebook products. This was an impressive feat given the economic downturn and the weakness in the PC and server markets, which caused global microprocessor revenue in the first quarter to decline by 20.6 percent to $6.9 billion, down from $8.6 billion during the same period in 2008.”

The attached figure presents iSuppli’s estimate of global microprocessor revenue market share in the first quarter of 2009.

Please note that iSuppli’s market share comprises all types of microprocessors, including x86, RISC and other types of general-purpose devices. This Market share information is not simply limited to x86 microprocessors used in PCs.

After declining slightly in the fourth quarter of 2007 to 78 percent, Intel gained share throughout 2008, with its portion of global revenue rising to 79 percent in the first quarter of 2008, to 79.2 percent in the second quarter, to 80.3 percent in the third quarter and to 81.6 percent in the fourth quarter.

“Intel widened its lead in 2008 partly due to its Atom microprocessor, which has achieved major success in the fast-growing netbook PC market,” Wilkins said. “However, the strength of Intel’s broad product line in microprocessors for desktops, servers and notebooks was the major factor driving its success..”

Intel’s decline in the first quarter was as a result of the contraction in the PC and server markets, where end-application demand is suffering from the credit crisis.

Despite AMD’s rise in share, both it and Intel suffered revenue declines due to the poor economic and market conditions. Those factors are expected to continue to hamper the global microprocessor business in 2009, with full-year revenue set to $28.6 billion, down 15.8 percent from $34 billion in 2008.

About iSuppli’s netbook research
iSuppli’s recent report, Netbooks and Emerging Form Factors: PC Saviors?, details iSuppli’s outlook for the global netbook PC market. To learn more, please visit: http://www.isuppli.com/ProductDetail.aspx?ID=28431&L1ID=159&L2ID=910. www.isuppli.com