GPU Market Rebounds: Shipments Surge in Q2 2023 Amid Price Drops and AI Demand

Global GPU AIB Shipments Witnessed Massive Increase In Q2 2024, NVIDIA Still Leading

Total GPU shipments have witnessed a noticeable increase in quarter-on-quarter figures, which is associated with the hype surrounding the next-gen GPUs. It looks like the GPU industry is picking up momentum when it comes to consumer adoption since a new market survey by Jon Peddie Research (JPR) shows that GPU shipments have seen positive quarterly growth, with AIB manufacturers seeing up to a 9.4% increase. This is certainly a piece of great news for the markets, especially at a time when companies like NVIDIA and AMD are involved in prepping for next-gen GPUs to drop by in the markets, and interestingly, there have been some tilts in market shares as well, which we'll discuss next. Starting with AMD, it is said that the firm has witnessed a 9% increase in QoQ desktop AIB unit shipments, while NVIDIA saw a modest 9.7% rise. Interestingly, Team Green continues to dominate in the market share figures, having as high as 88% of the market in its hands. This shows how aggressively NVIDIA's GPUs have turned in the markets, especially the latest Ada Lovelace SKUs, which, by the way, have seen an impressive discount in the UK. However, Team Blue saw a flat line growth in the past quarter, with no such change in QoQ shipments. In terms of the overall GPU markets, JPR reports that YoY shipments saw a massive 48% increase, simply due to how the markets evolved in the past few months, with the AI PC hype kicking in along with impressive discounts being offered by manufacturers. Here's what the report has to say about the general trend: 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. But, overall shipments are down compared to two years ago, so that's 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. - Dr. Jon Peddie, President of JPR It will be interesting to see how the GPU markets evolve moving into the future, especially since now we are waiting for the release of AMD's RDNA 4, along with NVIDIA's GeForce RTX 50 series "Blackwell" GPUs, which are going to offer serious competition in the markets. Yes, we didn't forget Intel's Battlemage at all.

The GPU market is back, baby, and astonishing 'market watchers who have been predicting its doom for decades'

There's been relatively little news on the discrete graphics card front for a while. The most exciting developments have been regarding integrated solutions such as those found in AMD Strix Point laptops. It's a little surprising, then, to find out that the discrete graphics card market did pretty damn well last quarter. Research from Jon Peddie Research (JPR) says there were increased shipments in the graphics add-in board (AIB) market compared to Q2 2024 and last year. We're talking a 9.4% increase compared to Q1 and a 47.9% increase year-on-year. The analyst firm explains, "AMD's quarter-to-quarter total desktop AIB unit shipments increased 9% and increased 3% from last year. Nvidia's quarter-to-quarter unit shipments increased 9.7% and increased 61.9% from last year while continuing to hold a dominant market share position at 88%." However, it points out that Intel "remained flat, as the company has yet to gain significant traction in the add-in board market." This isn't so surprising given that there's been diminishing hype over the company's discrete Arc A750 and A770 graphics cards. While the president of JPR, Jon Peddie, points out that "overall shipments are down compared to two years ago," it's nevertheless a good sign that graphics card shipments have mostly been on the up since then. In fact, the past year has been pretty consistently great for graphics card shipments, as Peddie points out, "With one little dip in Q1 (seasonally normal), we've seen four quarters of growth." Q2 2024 shipments roughly match Q4 2023 according to JPR's chart, but note that fourth quarter sales are usually higher than other quarters because of the holiday season, especially Black Friday. A Q2 matching a Q4 is good news. What's more is there's been a steep increase in "attach rate", meaning the proportion of graphics card shipments "attached" to desktop desktop CPU shipments. In other words, graphics card shipments have increased not just absolutely but proportionally to desktop CPU shipments. So, it's not as if the increased graphics card shipments are just because there are more PC systems being sold overall. Graphics card shipments seem to have increased despite fewer desktop CPU shipments. In fact, proportionally, this research shows that interest in having a discrete graphics card in one's system has shot up on a steep curve since the start of 2024 and was steadily increasing prior to that, since Q3 2022. C. Robert Dow, a JPR analyst, attributes the surge to "the release of new AIBs in Q1 and a slight drop in prices in the market overall". By "new AIBs" they probably mean the RTX 40-series Super cards which markedly increased the value proposition of the 40-series in general. These now feature in some of the best gaming PCs and are some of the best graphics cards full-stop. I can't help but wonder about other potential influencing factors, too. For instance, the burgeoning AI market and all the hype surrounding it could have had an effect, as discrete graphics cards are the best way for home users to power all the AI workloads that are starting to work their way into more and more ordinary applications by the day. Whatever the reason, it's good news for us gamers because more demand usually encourages the creation of more supply and cheaper prices... Okay, I won't get carried away on the price front given it's (mainly) Nvidia we're talking about, here. Still, good news is good news. As Peddie says, "The add-in board market continues to surprise and astonish market watchers who have been predicting its doom for decades." Take that, naysayers. Let's just hope next-gen Nvidia Blackwell and AMD RDNA 4 graphics cards aren't flops and that chart can keep pointing upwards.

GPU sales are experiencing a boom thanks to a 'slight' drop in price

A new report from Jon Peddie Research indicates that GPU shipments from AIB partners, which include cards from companies like ASUS, MSI, and GIGABYTE, for Q2 2024 increased compared to the previous quarter and the same quarter last year. This is surprising because Q2 is generally quieter, and sales dip compared to Q1. NVIDIA dominates the GPU market, chart credit: Jon Peddie Research. GPU shipment increased by 9.4% compared to the previous quarter, dramatically higher than the 10-year average of -7.1% for Q2. This figure represents around 9.5 million units, with NVIDIA and AMD benefiting from the increased interest in GPUs. NVIDIA's quarter-to-quarter shipments increased by 9.7%, and a massive 61.9% compared to last year. AMD's quarter-to-quarter shipments increased by 9% while increasing by 3% compared to the previous year. As expected, NVIDIA continues to dominate the market with a whopping 88% market share. C. Robert Dow, an analyst at JPR, attributes the "surge" in GPU sales to new cards hitting the market and a "slight drop in prices." Interestingly, the report summary doesn't mention AI, which we'd assume would be a factor thanks to the impressive AI performance of desktop GeForce RTX 40 Series cards. CPU versus GPU shipments, chart credit: Jon Peddie Research. That said, with several high-profile PC game releases and recent Steam Hardware Surveys showcasing cards like the GeForce RTX 4070 and RTX 4060 climbing up the charts, this data indicated that PC gamers are upgrading their GPUs as the increase doesn't carry over to the CPU market. The report also notes that this rise in GPU shipments will flatten until the next generation of graphics cards arrives in late 2024 or early 2025. Based on rumor and speculation, both AMD's Radeon 8000 Series of mid-range cards and the full suite of NVIDIA GeForce RTX 50 Series cards are expected to start arriving early next year, with CES 2025 looking to be the venue where we'll get a full reveal.