Surging Discrete GPU Shipments Astonish Doomsday Market Analysts

There are multiple reasons to think that discrete graphics cards would see a decline in shipments during this time of the year, such as typical seasonality and this being the tail-end of the current generation product cycle for AMD (Radeon RX 7000 series), NVIDIA (GeForce RTX 40 series), and Intel (Arc A-series). However, the latest figures shared by market research firm Jon Peddie Research (JPR) indicate the market experienced a "significant surge" of add-in board (AIB) shipments in the second quarter.

What exactly does that translate to? JPR's auditing shows that total graphics card shipments shot up to 9.5 million units in the second quarter, which is an impressive 9.4% sequential gain and a monstrous 47.9% increase compared to the same quarter a year ago. That level of growth also far exceeds the 10-year average for second quarter shipments, which sits at negative 7.1%.

"The add-in board market continues to surprise and astonish market watchers who have been predicting its doom for decades. With one little dip in Q1 (seasonally normal), we’ve seen four quarters of growth," said Dr. Jon Peddie, president of Jon Peddie Research. 

In your face, doomsayers. However, if there's one thing the doomsday crowd can hang their crummy hats on, it's that shipments are actually down if comparing to the same quarter two years ago, which Peddie says is "not encouraging."

"However, we remain optimistic about the future, and the fantastic games that are coming that will take all the performance an AIB can offer," Peddie adds.

It should come as no surprise that NVIDIA continues to dominate in discrete GPU market share—it continues to sit at 88%, same as the previous quarter and up from 80% a year ago, with AMD accounting for the other 12% (down from 17% a year ago).

What about Intel? Though it's made an entry into the discrete GPU market with its Arc A770 and A750 graphics cards, as well as some lower end SKUs, shipments remain flat. JPR says it has yet to gain any significant traction and has its market share of discrete GPUs at 0%.

We suspect there won't be a whole lot of movement in the current quarter, though it will be interesting to see how next year shapes up. That's because we anticipate all three players launching next-generation products, including the GeForce RTX 50 series, the Radeon RX 8000 series, and Battlemage.

Top image source: Microsoft Co-Pilot/Designer