JPR: GPU shipments up 2.5% despite 1.5% decline in PC market

Matthew DeCarlo

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Despite a decline in computer shipments, the second quarter of 2012 proved to be "good" if not "great" for the graphics hardware industry according to Jon Peddie Research (JPR). GPU shipments totaled 126 million units, up 2.7% from the same time last year, ahead of the average growth of 2.5% for the period and more welcomed than the 1.5% drop in overall PC shipments during the recently ended quarter.

Much of that growth is attributed to the graphics solutions built into Intel's Sandy Bridge and Ivy Bridge chips, as total discrete GPU shipments only increased 0.5% from the first quarter of 2012 and were down 7% on-year. JPR says this is "due to the same problems plaguing the overall PC [industry], continued HDD shortage, macroeconomics, softness in western European market, and the impact of tablets."

Graphics cores inside Intel's processors made it into 6.3% more desktops and 13.9% more notebooks on-quarter, while those figures are 13.6% and 3.8% year-over-year. AMD's integrated GPUs shipped in 13.8% less desktops and 6.7% notebooks from the first quarter (we couldn't find on-year figures and it's worth noting that JPR doesn't include handsets or tablets, so Nvidia's Tegra chips aren't covered).

The outfit's highlights also jump back and forth between quarterly and yearly changes when discussing the discrete market, making it tough to draw direct comparisons, so we won't (for example, AMD's discrete desktop GPU results are displayed on-year and Nvidia's are on-quarter). Anyhow, both outfits seem to be doing okay and JPR says the overall trend for discrete GPUs is up with a CAGR to 2015 of 5%.

Unsurprisingly, Intel maintained the largest market share of overall graphics shipments at 62.0%, up from 59.1% in the first quarter and 55% in the second quarter last year. AMD's share worked out to 22.7%, down from 25.2% and 24.5% in the aforementioned periods, while Nvidia held a 14.8% slice, down from 15.1% and 20.2%. The remaining sliver of shipments was split between VIA/S3 and Matrox.

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Looks like ultrabooks made a dent on the descrete graphics numbers.
A closer look at the numbers shows
AMD’s total shipments of heterogeneous GPU/CPUs, I.e., APUs dropped 13.8% in the desktop from Q1, and 6.7% in notebooks.
Intel’s desktop processor-graphics EPG shipments increased from last quarter by 6.3%, and Notebooks showed double-digit growth of 13.9%.
Nvidia’s desktop discrete shipments dropped 10.4% from last quarter; however, the company increased mobile discrete shipments by 19.2%
Probably indicates the largest trend is towards laptops/notebooks that incorporate two physical GPU's- An Intel iGPU + Nvidia discrete
[source]
 
Doesn't this only show what companys are anticipating to move on to market for this quarter? Like build in Q2 and ship in Q3. I am just assuming here.
In that case, the strong nvidia surge compared to last quarter should be attributed to Apple's refresh and switch from AMD to Nvidia.
Intel's double digit growth in the mobile segment is in line with my original statement, ultrabooks and macbook airs have made some impact on how many discrete GPUs are shipped to manufacturers.
 
Doesn't this only show what companys are anticipating to move on to market for this quarter? Like build in Q2 and ship in Q3. I am just assuming here.
Yes and No ?. The numbers reflect "shipping for revenue". In addition to sales you'd need to take into account channel stuffing and inventory buildup (note AMD's Q1 2012 and Q2 2012 inventory figures) and the pro market (esp the warranty replacements in the latter)
In that case, the strong nvidia surge compared to last quarter should be attributed to Apple's refresh and switch from AMD to Nvidia
partially, not entirely. MacBook Pro is the only range of Apple SKU's that are shipping Nvidia GPU's- iMac and Mac Pro's are still AMD at the present time. MBA's of course don't feature a discrete GPU option.
Intel's double digit growth in the mobile segment is in line with my original statement, ultrabooks and macbook airs have made some impact on how many discrete GPUs are shipped to manufacturers.
Not disputing the last part of your statement. An easier method of comparison would be to check the model line-up of the major OEM's....Intel to AMD offerings. Dell feature no AMD parts in desktop, while notebook SKU's run 3:1 in favour of Nvidia in an iGPU+GPU configuration...and I count more than a few GT 650M, 660M, 675M (released late Q1 and are an addition to existing Fermi GPU's excepting the 580M which is EOL). For your hypothesis to be correct, the MacBook Pro must be a fantastic seller to account for a 19+% increase in Nvidia's mobile shipments, and the vast majority of Intel laptop/notebook offerings must offer no discrete pairing option- which doesn't seem the case for the major OEM's.
 
Not surprising in my opinion. As more PC users adopt Intel Processors for their systems they're finding even the last generation processors are more than capable of playing all modern games. The only last hardware component to invest in for additional performance is a more powerful, or additional GPUs.
 
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