Intel managed to expand its lead in the global processor market to levels not seen in nearly four years in the second quarter of 2009, according to iSuppli. Intel accounted for 80.6% of global processor revenues in the second quarter, up 1.4pp from 79.1% during the same period in 2008, and a 1.5pp rise from the first quarter. This gave the company the largest share of global processor revenues since it claimed 82.4% of revenues in the third quarter of 2005.

"Intel benefited as the global PC market took a first small step toward recovery in the second quarter, with global shipments rising by 1% from the first quarter," said Matthew Wilkins, principal analyst of compute platforms research for iSuppli. "However, with PC shipments still down compared to a year earlier, Intel actually suffered a decline in processor revenues compared to a year earlier, as did chief rival AMD."

Intel in the second quarter enjoyed strong demand for its new-generation products across all segments, including desktops, notebooks and servers. However, in the overall PC market, only the notebook segment produced growth compared to the second quarter of 2008, at 13%. Both the desktop and entry-level server segments declined on a yearly basis. In contrast, AMD lost 0.4pp of market share compared to a year earlier, and declined by 1.4pp from the first quarter of 2009. "AMD didn't benefit from the small sequential rise in PC sales because its average processor pricing was lower than that from the first quarter of 2009," Wilkins said.