Intel processor share up, despite Atom struggle

Despite of struggling Netbook’s sell in the market, Intel has managed to strengthen its grip on the microprocessor market. The Netbooks sale is falling sharply in the recent times. 

According to the recent data released by iSuppli, Intel accounted for 83.7 percent of the global microprocessor revenue in the third quarter of 2011. This value is 1.2 percent increase in the share from the second quarter. This figure also says that they have extended the lead from their nearest challenger AMD to 73.5 percentage points, up from the 72 percent.

Chips for Netbooks enjoyed double digit growth from 2008 to 2010. However, the rise in the sales of the tablets has significantly declined the Netbook purchase in the market. Thus the demand for the Atom chips Intel produces to service these Netbook should have declined too.

The Companies are not getting to where in other areas Intel enjoyed the strong growth, to make up for the reduced demand for Atoms. 

According to Matthew Wilkins, principal analyst for computed platforms research at iSuppli, the boom in the tablets sales has sealed both upsides and downsides for Intel. This is hurting the business in Netbook microprocessors, but boosting its sales of chips used in data centers to support cloud computing. 

He also added that Intel with a warning that its fourth quarter revenue will fall short of expectations, are still expected to expand its lead in the global semiconductor market based on its strong performance in the third quarter and the rest of the year.

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