AMD Falls 26% in Quarterly GPU Sales, nVidia Declines 16%, Intel 7.4%

Despite an ongoing period of general growth for the tech sector and desktop computing space, Jon Peddie Research today released a report indicating an 11% decline last quarter's GPU shipments.

The report indicates that embedded GPUs and IGPs are eroding dGPU sales. Year-to-year total GPU shipments fell 18.8%, combining the 21.7% desktop graphics decline with a 16.9% notebook dGPU decline. Note that this report represents the entire dedicated graphics industry and is not a linear representation of the gaming-only market, to which this website caters more directly.

We're told that nVidia's dGPU shipments have fallen 16% from last quarter, AMD's 26%, and Intel's 7.4%. The report underscores that Q2 results are typically down 6.86% due to seasonal volume shifts – something that we have observed 'clinically' through our own user interaction – but states that this is the lowest point in ten years.

It is key to note that a heavy saturation of new GPU shipments in the past two months could see an upswing in sales in Q3.

The JPR report states that AMD has fallen 25.8% in sales volume over last quarter, a combination of APU, dGPU, and notebook deployments. Individual verticals are ranked as:

• +25% quarterly growth in APU volume.
• -53.3% decline in APU notebook deployment.
• -33.3% decline in discrete GPU (graphics card) sales.
• -9.1% decline in discrete notebook GPU sales.

It is indicated that Intel has seen an overall graphics shipment decline of 7.4% (-7.4% IGP, -7.3% notebook IGPs).

Of nVidia, the report notes a total PC graphics segment decline of 16.2% over last quarter. Individual segments are ranked as:

• -12.03% quarterly decline in discrete GPU (graphics card) sales.
• -21.6% quarterly decline in discrete notebook GPU sales.
• NVidia reportedly saw “strength in gaming from Western Europe and China, which helped it buck a down quarter for the industry.”

JPR explains that, between IGPs, APUs, and dGPUs, the average GPU-per-PC metric has grown to ~1.55 GPUs per PC in 2015, a marked growth over the 1.2 average measured in 2001.

We suspect that industry trending toward new architectures and product launches has contributed to this greater-than-average decline. We're curious to see what 3Q15 looks like. With Skylake now shipping, nVidia's lineup maturing, and AMD's Fiji architecture shipping, it could be that the consumer market was "on hold." Recent press conferences from all three major manufacturers have indicated a period of growth for the dedicated enthusiast market -- an admittedly small niche of the greater whole -- which is, in the least, comforting news for PC enthusiasts.

- Steve "Lelldorianx" Burke.