Worldwide PC microprocessor shipments grew 8.5% sequentially in the fourth quarter of 2007 to reach record levels for the second quarter in a row, according to new data from research firm IDC. Growth in overall unit shipments and stable average selling prices (ASPs) stimulated overall market revenues to grow 9.6% sequentially to US$8.7 billion.
Shipments of processors designed for PC servers stood out in the quarter, growing 17% sequentially. Shipments of processors for mobile PCs grew 10.3%, while processors for desktop PCs grew 6.5%. IDC analysis also reveals that, within each form factor, the percentage of high-end and mainstream processors grew at the expense of low-end processors. For example, in the desktop processor segment, high-end and mainstream processors represented 87.1% of processors shipped in the fourth quarter of 2007, up from 84.6% in the third quarter.
"Overall market pricing was very stable in the quarter," said Shane Rau, director of Semiconductors: Personal Computing research at IDC. "Since server and mobile processors carry a premium over desktop processors and they grew more than desktop processors, they buoyed the market average price. The fact that the high-end and mainstream segments within all form factor segments grew faster than the value segments kept pricing even firmer. We attribute this result to the aggressive pricing at which suppliers introduced new products in the second quarter combined with the demand for more robust PC configurations necessary to support Windows Vista. As the year progressed into the forth quarter, the pricing drew in more buyers who wanted these relatively high-end products to support this operating system."
For the full year 2007, total worldwide PC processor shipments grew 12.6% compared to 2006. Total revenues grew 1.7% to US$30.55 billion. The disparity of unit growth and revenues growth indicates the degree of price erosion that occurred early in the year 2007....
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