The GPU market and the PC market in general seems to have returned to normal seasonal cycles. This quarter was, therefore, appropriately down (normally it is flat to down), and the Gaming PC segment, where higher-end GPUs are used, was once again the bright spot in the overall PC market for the quarter, according to Jon Peddie Research (JPR).
The enthusiasm for tablets has subsided, and the PC market seems to have stabilized as users realize a tablet is useful for a lot of things but can never replace a PC for performance, screen size, or upgradability.
The first quarter is typically flat to down from the previous quarter in the seasonal cycles of the past. For Q1 '17, it decreased -17.5% from last quarter and was below the 10-year average of -6%.
Quick highlights
AMD's overall unit shipments decreased -24.81% quarter-to-quarter, Intel's total shipments decreased -13.91% from last quarter, and Nvidia's decreased -25.64%.
* Theattach rate of GPUs (includes integrated and discrete GPUs) to PCs for the quarter was 136%, which was down -4.75% from last quarter.
* Discrete GPUs were in 31.36% of PCs, which is down -4.57%.
* The overall PC market decreased -14.65% quarter-to-quarter, and decreased -1.74% year-to-year.
* Desktop graphics add-in boards (AIBs) that use discrete GPUs decreased -29.83% from last quarter.
Q1'17 saw no change in tablet shipments from last quarter.
The first quarter is, on average, flat to down from the previous quarter, reflecting seasonality, which has finally seemed to reestablish itself in the market.
GPUs are traditionally a leading indicator of the market, since a GPU goes into every system before it is shipped, and most of the PC vendors are guiding cautiously for Q4 '14. The Gaming PC segment, where higher-end GPUs are used, was a bright spot in the market in the quarter.
The report contains the following content:
Worldwide GPU and PC Shipment Volume, 1994 to 2020.
Detailed worldwide GPU Shipment Volume, 1Q 2001 to 2Q 2016, and forecast to 2020.
Major suppliers: Detailed market share data-on the shipments of AMD, Intel, Nvidia, and others.
Financial results for the leading suppliers: Analysis of the quarterly results of the leading GPU suppliers.
Market Forecasts: You will also be able to download a detailed spreadsheet and supporting charts that project the supplier's shipments over the period 2001 to 2018. Projections are split into platforms and GPU type.
GPUs: History, Status, and Analysis.
Financial History from for the last nine quarter: Based on historic SEC filings, you can see current and historical sales and profit results of the leading suppliers.
A Vision of the future: Building upon a solid foundation of facts, data and sober analysis, this section pulls together all of the report's findings and paints a vivid picture of where the PC graphics market is headed.
Charts, graphics, tables and more: Included with this report is an Excel workbook. It contains the data JPR used to create the charts in this report. The workbook has the charts and supplemental information.
The global GPU market demand in Q1 '17 decreased from the previous quarter, and decreased from last year, to 82.67 million units. However, while PC shipments have returned to predictable patterns, graphics shipments have been steadily increasing over time.
JPR’s research finds that global GPU market demand in Q4 '16 increased seasonally, and the sales in the first quarter of 2017 declined seasonally. The surge in shipments seen in 2010 and 2011 is attributed to the pent-up demand created by the 2009 financial crisis, and the market seems to have stabilized, albeit with a slight downward trend. However, JPR is anticipating a slow, but steady increase in shipments going forward. As with any report involving data collection and modeling, we use assumptions in the analysis for forecasting.
The quarter in general
AMD's shipments of desktop heterogeneous GPU/CPUs, that is, APUs, for desktops decreased -22.2% from the previous quarter. AMD's APU shipments were down -18.8% in notebooks. Desktop discrete GPUs decreased -34.6% from last quarter, and notebook discrete shipments decreased -16.0%. AMD's total PC graphics shipments decreased -24.8% from the previous quarter.
Intel's desktop processor embedded graphics (EPGs) shipments decreased from last quarter by -10.5% and notebook processors decreased by -8.0%, and total PC graphics shipments decreased -13.9% from last quarter.
Nvidia’s desktop discrete GPU shipments were down -27.8% from last quarter; and the company's notebook discrete GPU shipments decreased -23.0%, and total PC graphics shipments decreased -25.6% from last quarter.
Total discrete GPU (desktop and notebook) shipments for the industry decreased -25.5% from the last quarter, and decreased -6.0% from last year. Sales of discrete GPUs fluctuate due to a variety of factors (timing, memory pricing, etc.), new product introductions, and the influence of integrated graphics. Overall, the CAGR from 2014 to 2017 is now -9%.
Ninety-nine percent of Intel's non-server processors have graphics, and over 66% of AMD's non-server processors contain integrated graphics; AMD still ships integrated graphics chipsets (IGPs).