Worldwide PC microprocessor shipments grew in the first quarter, rising 1.6% from the fourth quarter of last year, and 7.4% in the first quarter of 2010, research firm IDC said.

Intel Corp (INTC) continued its dominance with a 80.8% market share, compared to Advanced Micro Devices Inc.'s AMD's 18.9% share and Via Technologies' 0.2%. The figures though for Intel and AMD are both flat compared to 4Q10.

IDC said that Intel earned 86.3% share in the mobile PC processor segment, a gain of 0.2%, AMD finished with 13.4%, a loss of 0.1%, and VIA earned 0.3%. In the PC server/workstation processor segment, Intel finished with 93.9% market share, a loss of 0.3%, and AMD earned 6.1%, a gain of 0.3%. In the desktop PC processor segment, Intel earned 72.4%, a loss of 0.1%, and AMD earned 27.4%, a gain of 0.1%.

Shane Rau, director of Semiconductors: Personal Computing research at IDC, said, "Both Intel and AMD grew unit shipments sequentially, which indicates some decent strength in their new platforms. Due to the first full quarter shipping their Sandy Bridge and Fusion microprocessors with integrated graphics processors (IGP), processors with IGP grew to slightly over 50% of market shipments for the first time."

13% of PC Processors by ARM in 4 Years

ARM Holdings, which licenses processor designs to chip makers, currently has no presence in the PC processor market.
For the first time, IDC, however, said it is forecasting PC microprocessor units by processor architecture, including those based on x86 and those based on ARM. By 2015, IDC expects that over 13% of PC processors will be based on the ARM architecture.
IDC expects that unit shipments for the full year 2011 will grow 10.3% compared to 2010 and market revenue for the year will grow 17.6% to nearly $43 billion.

Next Generation Chips

In a bid to widen its lead over its rivals, Intel, whose stock has gained 12% this year, announced Wednesday it has advanced its chip manufacturing technology with three-dimensional transistors that would improve the speed and power of PCs, smartphones and tablets. The company said it will implement three-dimensional transistors when making chips using its latest 22-nanometer manufacturing technology. The new chip technology, called tri-gate transistors, replaces flat, two-dimensional streams of transistors with a 3D structure. The microprocessors are expected to arrive in 2012.

"This breakthrough will extend Intel's lead even further over the rest of the semiconductor industry," Intel Senior Fellow Mark Bohr said in the statement. "The low-voltage and low-power benefits far exceed what we typically see from one process generation to the next."

ARM, however, has downplayed Intel's 'revolutionary chip'. Ian Drew, ARM's executive vice-president of marketing, has said that "Intel, and the industry as a whole" has been working on the technology for years. But he said he is confident that the strength of the ARM, which boasts of its low-consumption chips, is robust enough to compete. ARM-based chips are known to be more power-efficient than Intel's. As a result, ARM has outpaced Intel in the markets for smart phones and tablets, where long battery life plays a critical role.

Intel's chief rival, Advanced Micro Devices, doesn't see its need for the 3-D transistors ahead. AMD said it will use conventional transistors for its forthcoming 20-nanometer process. "We don't see the need" for technologies like 3-D transistors until subsequent production processes, a spokesman for the company said.