Even though the world’s largest maker of x86 microprocessor faces fierce competition from Advanced Micro Devices, it will maintain substantial increases in shipments of central processing units within the following years, according to a report from market research firm In-Stat.

Shipments of Intel processors will rise from 153 million units in 2004 to 241 million in 2009, predicts the high-tech market research firm. But while Intel will see strong growth for its x86 chips in mobile personal computer (PC) processors and server processors, the company will face moderate growth for desktop PC processors over the next several years, believe the analysts, which is inline with the current situation when Intel faces much higher competition in the desktops amid relatively moderate unit growth of full-sized PCs.

“Key trends will be shifts to dual-core processors for PCs, and multi-core processors for servers, to increase performance while maintaining or decreasing chip power consumption,” says Jim McGregor, an In-Stat analyst.

The research firm maintains its prediction that in the coming years “a new generation of processors” that feature on-chip, core-to-core communication and shared cache will make inroads. According to the firm, Intel’s mobile IA32 architecture will be the technology driver for all PCs and IA32 server processors beginning in the second half of next year.

A recent report by In-Stat found that the shift to low-cost PC processors to further reduce the cost of PCs and address the needs of emerging markets will continue. Still, Mr. McGregor said that average selling prices for all platforms “have increased with the economic recovery” and “will continue to increase with these shifts before price degradation begins”.