Intel Atom bombs the competition

Intel gained market share during every quarter of 2008, mainly due the success of its Atom CPU in the netbook segment according to iSuppli. Showing just how dominant is in the CPU space, it held a market share of 81.8 percent in the final quarter of 2008. Intels share had grown 3.4 percentage points from the year before (78.4 percent in Q4 2007).

“Intel’s Atom offering for the netbook segment has helped, although the major contribution to the company’s share gains has undoubtedly come from the continued strength of the company’s microprocessor brands and products in the desktop, notebook and server segments,” said Matthew Wilkins, principal analyst, computer platforms research, for iSuppli

Intels super performance came at the expense of AMD who lost market share both year-on-year and sequentially in Q4 2008. AMD accounted for 10.6 percent of worldwide microprocessor revenue, a decrease of 3.5 percent from the 14.1 percent it held in the fourth quarter of 2007.

Earlier this year, Intel said it expects to sell at least 50 percent more Atom chips for netbooks and other mobile Internet devices this year than last. “Clearly things are getting tougher if you’re a microprocessor supplier and your name is not Intel or AMD,” Wilkins added.