Jon Peddie Research has published the graphics market's first quarter results, showing a 10.3% spike in shipments. JPR said the change was welcomed after a weak holiday quarter, especially considering PC shipments were down 5% in the same period. GPU makers witnessed an unusually low seasonal demand in the fourth quarter and at the time JPR described the 7.8% on-year decline as unimpressive and disappointing.

JPR's enthusiasm for the unusual increase between the fourth and first quarters was followed by a cautious outlook for the second quarter. The outfit noted that the average change between the holiday season and first quarter is -4%, suggesting that vendors might be stocking up on parts. That could negatively affect the industry's second quarter performance as system builders bleed their existing inventory.

Vendor Q1 2011 Share Q4 2010 Share Qtr-Qtr Growth Q1 2010 Share Yr-Yr Growth
AMD 24.8% 24.2% 13.3% 21.5% 15.4%
Intel 54.4% 52.5% 14.2% 49.6% 9.7%
Nvidia 20.0% 22.5% -1.7% 28.0% -28.4%
Matrox 0.05% 0.1% -11.8% 0.1% -16.6%
SiS 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.2% -
VIA/S3 0.7% 0.8% 1.2% 0.7% 5.3%
Total 100.0% 100.0% 10.3% 100.0%  

In all, more than 125 million discrete and integrated graphics chips were shipped in the first quarter. According to the stats, Intel and AMD enjoyed gains at the expense of Nvidia. Intel celebrated its fifth quarter of selling processors with integrated graphics cores, or "Embedded Processor Graphics" (EPG), and felt a 9.7% increase on-year. AMD fared even better with a 15.4% boost, undoubtedly thanks to its Fusion chips.

During the same period, Nvidia's share slipped 28.4% from the year-ago quarter, further cementing the company's third-place position. Intel led the pack, controlling 54.4% of the market, well ahead of AMD's 24.8% cut. Nvidia trailed with a share of 20.0%. The remaining fraction of a percent was largely represented by Matrox and VIA/S3, who had a combined share of 0.75%, while SiS was entirely off the map this quarter.