In brief: Graphics card shipments increased 1.4 percent quarter-over-quarter in the first three months of 2022 to reach 13.4 million units. That's an increase of 32.2 percent compared to the same period a year ago. Over the last 10 years, card shipments have historically fallen by an average of 4.9 percent from Q4 to Q1.

Jon Peddie Research (JPR) further noted that over $8.6 billion in standalone GPUs shipped in Q1, a sizable drop in revenue from the $12.4 billion worth of cards moved in Q4 2021. This was due to falling average selling prices of cards, which is great news for consumers that have been paying well over MSRP for the past several quarters.

Nvidia maintained its lead in the category with a 75 percent market share while AMD's share increased slightly to 24 percent.

Looking ahead, Dr. Jon Peddie said the second quarter is usually down. World events will likely catch up to the market, meaning we could see shipments drop 20 percent or more. JPR analyst Robert Dow added that shipments could rebound late in the year with the launch of new product lines and Intel's entry into the market.

JPR has been tracking add-in boards (AIB) shipments quarterly for roughly 35 years. According to the firm, volume peaked in 1998 at 116 million units. In comparison, just 42 million units shipped in 2020. That figure climbed to north of 50 million last year.