Desktop CPU shipments drop to lowest level in nearly 30 years

Remember about two years ago when absolutely everyone wanted to upgrade their existing PC or buy a new one? Yes, according to the latest market report from Mercury Research, that no longer seems to be the case. The report notes that shipments of x86 chips have seen the biggest year-over-year decline since the report began in 1994. Analyst Dean McCarron said that could be the biggest drop since a sharp decline in 1984.

“Desktop and mobile client CPU shipments fell sharply from a year ago, with desktop CPU unit shipments falling to the lowest level in nearly three decades,” McCarran said in an emailed statement. “Total CPU shipments saw the largest year-over-year decline in our reporting history, spanning 28 years.”

Even so, if your name is AMD, that’s good news. In desktops, laptops, and servers, AMD outpaced Intel in every category, with the market gaining a combined 3.7% and nearly 9% year over year. Mercury’s measure was broadly in line with Intel’s and AMD’s quarterly reports — bad and upbeat, respectively.

Although AMD’s Ryzen 5000 and 6000 series are well received, its notebook CPU shipments are still slumping while grabbing industry rivals. But in terms of desktop and server shipments, the company’s position has improved significantly from a year ago. Mercury sees inventory issues, a symptom of current global supply chain problems, as the culprit behind Intel’s losses in all three areas.

Mercury estimates that ARM CPUs like Apple’s latest Mac designs, cheapest Chromebooks and some Snapdragon-powered Windows machines account for about 9.4% of the market. That’s down from the previous quarter (due to a sharp drop in Mac sales), but up 1.7% year over year.