GPU shipments surged 12% despite weaker PC demand and higher memory costs

[Skye Jacobs]

The takeaway: Discrete graphics processor shipments rose in the second quarter, defying a seasonal slowdown in the PC market and higher component costs tied to memory shortages. The increase is notable because the second quarter is typically slower than the first. It also comes as memory shortages have raised costs for PC makers and consumers, particularly for systems with high-end graphics hardware.appol

Standalone GPU shipments climbed 12.2% from the first quarter and 14.1% from a year earlier, according to Jon Peddie Research. The increase came as the broader client CPU market declined 1.1% year over year and desktop PC demand weakened.

Total consumer PC GPU shipments, including integrated graphics and discrete processors, reached 75.5 million units in the second quarter of 2026. That was up 10.4% from the previous quarter and 1.1% from the same period last year, JPR said.

Notebooks drove most of the growth. GPU shipments for laptops rose 16.8% quarter over quarter, while desktop GPU shipments fell 4%. The pattern matched the client CPU market, where mobile processor shipments increased while desktop CPU shipments dropped sharply from the first quarter.

JPR did not provide a unit total for discrete GPUs. Based on the company's reported attachment rates, Nvidia's market position and other shipment data, AMD, Intel, and Nvidia appear to have shipped about 20 million standalone GPUs during the quarter.

The research firm's figures do not show what drove the increase. It is unclear how much came from desktop graphics card sales, gaming notebooks, or other PC designs that include discrete GPUs. Still, the results suggest that demand for PCs with dedicated graphics held up better than demand for desktop systems overall.

Intel remained the largest supplier in the overall consumer PC GPU market thanks to the integrated graphics in its CPUs. Team Blue had a 56% share in the second quarter, according to JPR. Nvidia ranked second with 23%.

AMD held 21% of the consumer GPU market, up from 14% a year earlier. The gain was tied to increased shipments of its consumer CPUs, which include integrated Radeon graphics. It does not necessarily indicate a similar gain in AMD's standalone graphics card business.

More details should arrive later this month when JPR publishes its full desktop add-in-board report. It will provide market-share data for AMD, Intel, and Nvidia and should offer a clearer view of how the three companies performed in the discrete desktop GPU market.

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GPU shipments surged 12% despite weaker PC demand and higher memory costs

 

[king cleanass]

Are people actually buying these $3000-6000 5090s I see listed online? Are these scalpers selling them, or actual vendors inflating prices?

I have a 4080 that works fine, so I’m not upgrading anytime soon.

 

[godrilla]

Are people actually buying these $3000-6000 5090s I see listed online? Are these scalpers selling them, or actual vendors inflating prices?

I have a 4080 that works fine, so I’m not upgrading anytime soon.

Well the data says desktop GPU shipments fell 4%. The quarter also still had many gpus selling 25 to 50% lower than what we are seeing today. Next quarter numbers will be interesting. While gamers might be hesitant the higher vram parts are likely bought up by Ai token mining farms/llm individuals who want to run local llms are are willing to pay the price. Next quarter will show how much this whale market is willing to bare.

 

[user556]

What a terrible graph. It just looks like there is a regular semi-yearly oscillation. The rest of the graphs are useless as they only show the % share. Where the frig is the volumes graph to show actual rise over time?

 

[Anton Longshot]

Are people actually buying these $3000-6000 5090s I see listed online? Are these scalpers selling them, or actual vendors inflating prices?

I have a 4080 that works fine, so I’m not upgrading anytime soon.

Jensen Huang is going to be homeless and starving all because of your deplorable attitude.
I'd care about the soon-to-be-poor guy if I could.
Well done! Keep up the good work.

Back to reality...I like to think I'm not (very). stupid.
The GPU producers' PR departments are working overtime trying to convince pleyers they really really need/want to buy the expensive stuff they make.

My own Windows box GPU is a lot older than the 4080. Works fine, I don't need an upgrade.
As for my Mac Mini...it does not have a GPU card but runs games a lot faster than my i9 PC.

 

[Subset6]

We’re definitely entering a “do more with less” mode on the gaming side. With several new games having more scalability than their previous titles. On the hardware front, tech only available to the newest generation is being back ported to run on older hardware (Dlss 5 and fsr 4). Things like this give the older cards far more legs lengthening GPU upgrade cycles.

 

[ScottSoapbox]

My own Windows box GPU is a lot older than the 4080. Works fine, I don't need an upgrade.
As for my Mac Mini...it does not have a GPU card but runs games a lot faster than my i9 PC.

You realize the card part of the GPU is about upgradablity not performance right?

If not, revisit this comment in a few years.

 

[Achaios]

While gamers might be hesitant the higher vram parts are likely bought up by Ai token mining farms/llm individuals who want to run local llms are are willing to pay the price. Next quarter will show how much this whale market is willing to bear.

Can confirm.

I recently learned that AI bros specifically target RTX 5060 Ti's 16GB to run LLM's. They use four of them on the same motherboard for a total of 4X16=64GB.

Don't ask why they don't buy 9060 XT's 16GB instead. Apparently LLM's run better on NVIDIA hardware.

We're back to the GPU mining craze timeline, sorta.

 

[yRaz]

Don't ask why they don't buy 9060 XT's 16GB instead. Apparently LLM's run better on NVIDIA hardware.

That's not necessarily true. LLMs need memory or than anything. What people do is they buy AMDs Ryzen AI nonsense with massive amounts of unified memory instead of buying GPUs.

 

[Burty117]

That's not necessarily true. LLMs need memory or than anything. What people do is they buy AMDs Ryzen AI nonsense with massive amounts of unified memory instead of buying GPUs.

He is right about Ai Bro’s buying up 5060Ti 16GB though, it’s hit nearly the same price as the 9070XT, it seems in Australia, that’s actually happened.

Hardware Unboxed made a beautifully sarcastic video recently on it, the 9070XT absolutely destroy’s the 5060Ti, no way are people buying it over the 9070XT for gaming.

Unless they’re particularly smooth brained of course.

 

[3ogdy]

Listen, listen, nVidia owns other companies, and has considerable amounts of shares of companies that are nVidia customers.
They can make the shipments needle move by simply moving stock on paper without actually making money.

Jensen invests in (gives money to) ABC, then ABC uses that cash infusion to buy a ton of nVidia's hardware.
Record sales in the market.
Shareholders are happy, everybody can go home.
BS.

 

[TechSavy101]

THE 12% is either the scalpers buying in bulk or Ai companies sending their employees to buy as customers. Scalpers buy in mass since they know prices will only go higher. Also, some of the scalpers are fraudsters and will remove the core and memory, sell an empty card on Ebay or Amazon, then move the core/memory into a new GPU.