A new Mercury Research report on the processor market indicates AMD has regained some marketshare, the company had 20.9 percent of PC processor sales in Q1 2009, up from 17 percent in Q4 2008. Meanwhile, Intel's share of the market dropped from 82.1 percent to 78.2 percent.

This is much related to the welcomed Phenom II series processors which received very positive reviews and feedback from the community.

However, Mercury Research analysts add that the quarter was defined by inventory adjustments, so the marketshare figures do not necessarily reflect the actual state of the market or market share. The research firm says processor makers have sold off most of their excess inventory, and expects the market is ready for positive growth.

PC processor sales declined 8.3 percent in the first three months of the year compared to the last quarter of 2008, said Dean McCarron, principal of Mercury. "The quarter-on-quarter decline is only slightly worse than the average seasonal drop of 7.4 percent," McCarron said.

Notebook processors declined "far more" than desktop or server chips in the period. "Without the mobile downturn, the first quarter would have been much stronger than seasonal," he said.