PC technology market research specialist Jon Peddie Research has published its latest Market Watch report on the GPU business. These latest figures were collected and analysed to understand the market movements during Q4 2016. Key findings illustrated the steady demand for GPUs, at just over 100 million during the quarter. Meanwhile, the gaming PC segment continued to be a market bright spot. Both AMD and Nvidia swiped market share from Intel during the reported period.
While the shipment volume was flat in Q4, there was the shifting in shares as noted above. JPR said "AMD increased 10 per cent, Nvidia increased 10 per cent, and Intel was down 4 per cent."
Looking at discrete graphics, demand was up as these GPU add-in cards gained market over the integrated variety. "The attach rate increased in Q4 from last year and is now 141 per cent," noted JPR.
Highlights of the Q4 2016 Market Watch report in handy bullet point form are as follows:
- AMD’s overall unit shipments increased 10.49% quarter-to-quarter, Intel’s total shipments decreased 4.01% from last quarter, and Nvidia’s increased 9.52%.
- The attach rate of GPUs (includes integrated and discrete GPUs) to PCs for the quarter was 141% which was down 5.52% from last quarter.
- Discrete GPUs were in 35.92% of PCs, which is up 1.23%.
- The overall PC market increased 3.96% quarter-to-quarter, and decreased 3.55% year-to-year.
- Desktop graphics add-in boards (AIBs) that use discrete GPUs increased 5.60% from last quarter.
Explaining the continued growth offered by the PC gaming market, JPR says that the dual attractions of new AAA gaming content and the promise of slick Virtual Reality experiences are driving mid to high end GPU demand in both desktops and laptops.
New product introductions from AMD and Nvidia in the coming months are expected to shake up the GPU market once more. We might get a better handle on things next week as the red and green teams show off new GPUs and associated graphics cards ranges.
