The figures regularly released by Jon Peddie Research always give a good idea of the market’s state of health. Based on the published statistics, GPU shipments saw a significant increase of 11.6% on the previous quarter. Paradoxically, this increase comes as a surprise to most observers, as the second quarter is always the market’s lowest point. Of course, if we “zoom out” a little, year-on-year GPU shipments, which include all platforms and all GPU types, fell by 27%. Desktop graphics cards were down 36%, and notebook volumes were down 23%.
JPR’s analysts are now leaning towards a market recovery, which should be confirmed by the third-quarter figures.
The second quarter was surprisingly up, up significantly, led by AMD in terms of growth and Nvidia in terms of total shipments. Nvidia achieved its best results in notebooks, AMD performed well in desktops and Intel recorded overall year-on-year growth. Suppliers are optimistic and expect a solid third quarter, which is to be expected – if things ever get back to normal.
In concrete terms, GPU shipments are a closely watched indicator for anticipating market trends. GPUs are integrated into a system before suppliers ship the PC. Most semiconductor suppliers are forecasting an average increase of 9.8% for the next quarter.
Lower GPU prices, the main reason for the rebound?
There seem to be 2 main reasons for this upturn. Firstly, the end of the “rotten” stocks that have been lying dormant with distributors for many months (RTX 30xx, for example), and secondly, the aggressive pricing policy pursued by AMD and Intel to stimulate the market.
