Signs of Life in the PC Chip Market

PC demand is on the rise. According to IDC, PC chip shipments grew in the first quarter over the same period last year, and typical seasonal decline from the fourth quarter was less than it has been in years past.

Though Q1 global shipments of microprocessors slipped 5.6 percent from Q4 due to seasonality, they grew 39 percent over the same quarter in 2009. And, as IDC analyst Shane Rau notes, that is good news indeed.

“PC processor shipments typically decline around seven to eight percent going from fourth quarter to first quarter,” Rau said in a statement. “A decline of 5.6 percent is modest and wouldn’t mean much by itself. However, after the huge rise in shipments we saw in the fourth quarter, it adds more credibility to market recovery and that the PC industry anticipates improvement in PC end demand in 2010.”

To that end, IDC is predicting PC processor unit growth of 15.1 percent for 2010, though it concedes that it could prove a conservative estimate. And that may well prove to be the case. Earlier this month Intel, the world’s largest PC chip maker, reported the highest first-quarter sales ever…