Analyst: Annual GPU Shipments Skyrocketed and Prices Keep Falling

For the past two years it seemed every article about GPU inventories was all bad news. There was zero supply, and the cards that were available came with scalper pricing. Bots took over all the online purchasing, and eventually people just gave up on the notion of getting a new GPU. Lately though, both prices and inventory have improved, and now we have some numbers to back it up.

According to a new analysis from Jon Peddie Research (JPR), Add-in Board (AIB) GPU shipments have increased a whopping 32.2 percent in the past year. That’s measured from Q1 of last year, to the end of this past quarter, and it’s a new year-over-year record. An AIB GPU can be part of a new PC, but they’re also sold as individual items to gamers and miners. In this past quarter alone, GPU shipments also increased 1.4 percent. That might seem like a slowdown, but over the last 10 years shipments in Q1 have decreased on average by 4.9 percent. The fact that they didn’t, and actually increased instead, is good news. In total, $8.6 billion worth of GPUs were shipped in Q1 2022. This compares to $12.4 billion in holiday sales for Q4 2021. One of the primary drivers for the more than $4 billion dollars in lost GPU revenue from the previous quarter is prices have come down. That’s good news for us gamers, but bad news for AIB companies like Asus, Gigabyte, etc.

As you can see in the chart above, AMD increased its market share from a year ago by four percent. That’s a decent chunk, but as you can also see, Nvidia still retains a firm grasp on the add-in board market. We doubt Nvidia is losing much sleep over it. Then again, they didn’t get to where they are now by being complacent. JPR notes that this graph is about to shift dramatically as Intel enters the market for the first time. However, even though Intel is supposed to launch in late 2022, JPR doesn’t expect the numbers to shift until mid-2023.

Overall this is good news for consumers, and gamers. Shipments have increased at a good clip, and prices are falling because of it. This new report coincides with JPRs recent report on the entire GPU industry, which declined slightly in Q1. Despite the historically expected drop-off, the market is still expected to grow at a healthy rate through 2026. That may not materialize in Q2, per the Peddie report. Still, the record year-to-year increase in shipments along with a slight increase in shipments for Q1 are both signs of an industry recovering from historic setbacks.

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