Intel’s low-cost processor seems to be driving the PC market to new record highs, despite a difficult economic climate. IDC said that the high-volume shipments of the processor series have prompted the company to increase its forecasted market unit growth rate for this year to 18.0%.

A year-over-year Q3 growth rate of 15.8% looks strong, but hides Atom’s true impact: Without Atom, the PC processor market grew just 8.7%. Atom shifted the overall product mix, which is also reflected in revenue growth, which could not keep pace with unit growth: IDC said that revenue grew just 4.1% to $8.3 billion.

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