Intel loses 0.8% market share, AMD gains 0.5%

Intel lost about 0.8% of their marketshare during the second quarter of this year compared to the first quarter, but they still hold about 82.7% of the market. At the same time AMD's market share raised with 0.5% to 15.5%. The remaining 1.8% was split between VIA and Transmeta.

More often than not, the market share held by Intel and AMD shifts by less than one percentage point in any given quarter.

Seasonal trends took hold during the second quarter, Mercury Research figures show. Many PC makers opted for cheaper chips such as Intel's lower-speed Pentium 4 chips and AMD's Athlon XP chips, giving AMD the edge, especially in systems destined for emerging PC markets, such as China, India and Eastern Europe, said Dean McCarron, Mercury Research's principal analyst.

Overall, the trend toward low-priced desktop processors seen in the second quarter is fairly normal. The second quarter is often the weakest quarter of the year for PC chip shipments. At the same time, low-priced desktop processors are usually in the greatest demand during that quarter. In addition, there is a general growth trend in emerging markets, which typically purchase lower-priced chips. Combine all these trends and companies like AMD and Via, which offer lower prices than Intel, tend to benefit the most, McCarron said.

Read more at Cnet