Chip shipments slump overall, but the AI memory boom determines who loses
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Global processor shipments fell in the second quarter of 2026 compared with the same period a year earlier, new figures have claimed.
Mercury Research found, the decline stemmed mainly from weaker system-on-chip and embedded volumes tied to AMD's shrinking games console business, along with a steep drop in desktop CPU volumes.
Even as the overall market contracted, AMD continued to take share away from Intel across nearly every product category tracked by the research firm.
Desktop CPU shipments fell by more than 20% year on year, a decline Mercury links to weaker demand for high-end gaming PCs rather than typical seasonal softness.
Rising memory prices, driven by chipmakers prioritizing more profitable high-bandwidth memory for AI servers, have pushed up the cost of finished PCs.
A shortage of consumer GPUs appears to stem from similar supply pressures within the broader chip industry.
"Higher PC prices and limited GPU supplies are having a significant impact," Mercury Research said in its report.
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AMD's decline in desktop shipments was smaller than Intel's, allowing it to grow its desktop share to nearly 35%, up from about 32% a year earlier.
Mobile processor shipments told a different story, climbing strongly compared with the previous quarter after Intel expanded output during two heavily supply-constrained quarters.
Intel added millions of units of mobile CPU capacity in the second quarter, narrowing the earlier gap between supply and available demand.
Despite that expansion, AMD's share of the mobile segment rose to nearly 29%, up from 20.6% during the same quarter last year.
Server processor shipments increased by 20% year on year, with Mercury citing stronger demand for both datacenter—class chips and processors built for networking and storage.
