JPR: Second quarter was great for GPU makers
by Cyril Kowaliski — 1:09 PM on July 27, 2009

Graphics processor makers had a good quarter in Q2. The latest estimates from Jon Peddie Research suggest shipments climbed by a whopping 31.3% between the first and second quarters of this year, far beyond the eight-year average of 0.83%. (Q2 shipments have actually been down most years this decade.)

JPR provides a simple explanation: GPU orders ground to a halt in the latter part of 2008, as distributors buckled down for "a long drawn out worldwide recession." Things improved in the first quarter of this year, but not as much as analysts hoped. So, much of the recovery seems to have taken place in Q2.

Here's an overview of shipments and market share numbers for the past couple quarters, plus Q2 '08 for reference:

  Q2 2008 Q1 2009 Q2 2009
Market share Shipments Market share Shipments Market share Shipments
AMD 18.1% 17.1M 17.1% 12.8M 18.4% 18.1M
Intel 47.3% 44.7M 49.7% 37.2M 51.2% 50.3M
Nvidia 31.4% 29.6M 31.1% 23.3M 29.2% 28.7M
Others 3.2% 3M 2.2% 1.6M 1.1% 1.1M

Like many of JPR's shipment and market share numbers, these cover both discrete and integrated graphics hardware—that's why Intel has such a massive market share, even though it isn't selling discrete graphics cards.

A cursory look at the data shows that, over the past year, AMD and Intel have enjoyed both shipment and market share growth at the expense of Nvidia and smaller GPU makers. Between Q1 '09 and Q2 '09, AMD saw the biggest shipment growth (41.5%), followed by Intel (35.2%), and Nvidia (23.6%). Other firms saw continued declines. The balance hasn't shifted too dramatically among big players, though, with Nvidia's market share remaining close to the 30% mark.

   
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