Worldwide PC micro-processor shipments jumped a record 23 percent in the third quarter, according to Monday data from IDC.

That represents an all-time high for a single quarter, driven largely by mobile PC processors for Atom-based netbooks, and particularly those made and sold in China.

"Compared to where the market was at the beginning of 2009, PC processors have come back remarkably strong," said Shane Rau, director of semiconductor and personal computing research at IDC.

Unit sales were up 23 percent, but revenue was up only 14 percent, due to the low average selling price of netbooks. However, "since PC processor shipments overall just slightly exceeded shipments in 3Q08 - which was itself a record quarter at the time - we know that the processor market is recovering," Rau said.

Unit sales for mobile PC processors, including Intel's Atom processors for netbooks, grew 35.7 percent compared to the second quarter. Desktop processor sales grew 11.4 percent, while x86 server processors jumped 12.2 percent quarter over quarter.

Intel continued to dominate the space.

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