SiliconBeat

Here’s some good news: shipments of microprocessors used in personal computers reached record levels again in the third quarter, according to market research firm IDC. They were up 14 percent from the quarter before and up 15.8 percent year over year. The firm even gave a nod to Intel’s new Atom processor (pictured here next to a penny) for “ultra low cost mobile PCs (which Intel calls “Netbooks’)” — without Atom, the growth would have been cut to 8.3 percent sequentially and 8.7 percent year over year.

Wow.

Over all Intel also expanded total market share, mostly at AMD’s expense, with the exception of server chips. On the desktop, there was little change.

Now, here’s some bad news: IDC calls the outlook for the processor market this quarter and all of next year “very murky,” writing that “the worldwide demand environment looks weak, and both Intel and AMD indicated an uncertain outlook for the market. As a result, IDC is conservative about 2009 and will be lowering its upcoming unit forecast for the year.”

Ugh.