CPU Shipments Recover From A Pandemic Hangover As AMD And Intel Notch Key Wins
It took a minute or two, but x86 processor shipments appear to be recovering from a recent slump. According to data shared with us by Mercury Research, x86 chip shipments increased year-over-year for the first time in 24 months, with both desktop and laptop CPU shipments either growing at or exceeding normal seasonal rates as suppliers scale back their inventory correction efforts.
This is a good sign for both AMD and Intel, as well as the industry at large, at least for the most part—IoT and SoC shipments both took a hit in the fourth quarter of 2023, but those were the only major market segments to see a downward swing. Desktop, server, mobile, and overall CPU shipments all saw important gains as the market recovers from a post-pandemic hangover.
That said, there's always a caveat.
"Because the year-ago quarter was deeply impacted by inventory correction efforts, the statistics and share movements reported here in the past few quarters are more reflective of the suppliers differing in the depth and timing of their inventory corrections, rather than indicating sales-out share of the PC market," said Dean McCarron, president of Mercury Research.
However, McCarron also notes that corrections were, by and large, resolved by the third quarter of 2023. By extension, that means Q4 share results are likely in line with CPU sell-in.
Comparing AMD and Intel, there really wasn't a winner or loser, with each company benefiting from the apparent recovery in one way or another.
"With 2023 having come to a close, we have 2023 total
unit shares— AMD's share was up half a point to 31.1 percent,
a new record high for the company, with Intel's share down a
half point to 68.9 percent," McCarron said.
AMD also saw either quarterly or yearly (or both) gains in desktop, laptop, and server segments, all excluding IoT. It fared especially well in server CPU shipments when comparing Q4 2023 to Q4 2022, which saw AMD gain 5.4%. In keeping with the overall theme, though, Intel had a bit to brag about in the server segment too.
Source: Mercury Research
"The server market in the fourth quarter was quite dynamic...the segment had its first (and only) on quarter
growth for 2023, driven by a seasonal uptick in demand. Both
Intel and AMD saw significant growth in conventional data center
CPU products, Intel's Xeon SP Sapphire Rapids and AMD's 4th
generation EPYC Genoa and Bergamo all saw increases," McCarron noted.
"In
addition to this, non-data-center server CPUs, single-socket
products like Xeon D and Atom users in networking and storage
applications -- also increased in the quarter, and those
products combined with the strong Sapphire Rapids ramp resulted
in Intel very slightly outgrowing AMD in the fourth quarter of
2023, the first time Intel has had an on-quarter share gain in
nearly five years," McCarron added.
The one somewhat sour point for AMD is that its SoC business shrank on gaming console stagnation. This will likely be the case until whenever Microsoft and Sony get around to launching upgraded and/or next-gen systems. There's a sketchy rumor floating around that the next Xbox could tap Intel, but we'll believe it when we see it.
Overall, Intel still has a massive lead in x86 CPU share (including IoT and SoC), with the Q4 2023 share split at 71.4% (Intel) and 28.6% (AMD). Intel also maintained a healthy lead in each individual segment.
