PC and GPU Shipments Declined in Q1 2022

Jon Peddie Research (JPR) has released its Q1 2022 analysis of the global PC and GPU market, and it paints a picture of a market in transition. Everything is beginning to slow down thanks to various disturbances abroad. At fault are COVID-19 lockdowns, the war in Ukraine, and countries still recovering from the pandemic. In the short terms these factors have lead to a reduction in shipments, but overall the future isn’t totally grim. One thing is clear though: the pandemic-induced heyday of record-setting shipments for gaming parts is over.

Overall, the shipment of PCs with GPUs declined 6.2 percent for the quarter. This is historically normal, as shipments always lag in Q1, typically by seven percent. However, in Q1 of last year shipments were only down 0.3 percent, so this drop marks a “return to normal” so to speak. Despite the slowdown, JPR says the fundamentals of the market are still solid. It expects the GPU market to grow at a compound rate of 6.3 percent through the year 2026. For the quarter, AMD increased its market share by a sliver; just 0.7 percent. Nvidia did the same, adding 1.69 percent to its slice of the pie. The biggest loser was Intel, which lost 2.4 percent, while still retaining the lion’s share of the market for GPUs. In case it’s not clear, this market includes laptops and CPUs with iGPUs, which is a market where Intel has always been the dominant force. AMD’s market share is also boosted by these metrics.

In terms of the GPU shipment declines, Intel bore the brunt of it. It ended up shipping 8.7 percent fewer GPUs, with AMD holding steady with just a 1.5 percent decrease. Nvidia was the only company to increase shipments, boosting the number by 3.2 percent.

Looking at the above chart, we can see that both AMD and Nvidia are eating away at Intel’s market share. Neither company are taking big chunks out of Intel’s market share, but it looks like a steady erosion. Nvidia taking six percent market share away from Intel in the past year is a decent-sized chunk. Still, there’s no reason to pour one out for Intel as it still commands a 60 percent market share. As a side note it’ll be interesting to see how AMD’s Zen 4 impacts these numbers. Even Zen 4’s high-end CPUs will include an iGPU, which is a change for AMD. With Zen 3 none of its most powerful CPUs included integrated graphics. Intel will also benefit when it begins shipping discrete GPUs, allowing it to (hypothetically) compete for market share in a space where AMD and Nvidia have historically been the only players (pour one out for PowerVR’s Kyro II and 3dfx).

Currently the PC GPU market is also in a transition phase. Although AMD, Nvidia, and Intel recently launched mobile variants of their latest architectures, we’re also close-ish to the launch of each company’s next-gen successors too. Nvidia is rumored to be launching its new Ada Lovelace architecture with the RTX 4090 in August, while Zen 4 is now pegged to “Fall.” We can assume its RDNA3 GPUs won’t be too far behind. On top of that we’re still waiting for Intel’s Arc desktop GPUs, but its Raptor Lake CPUs could be appearing in Q3 as well. Overall it’s like we’re entering the summer doldrums as anticipation increases for what’s to come later in the year. Jon Peddie himself summarized the situation thusly, “Consumers are cautious despite new product introductions from AMD, Intel, and Nvidia (AIN) in the second half.”

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