Worldwide GPU shipments in Q1’15 were below the 10-year average of -3.6%, according to Jon Peddie Research (JPR). GPUs are a leading indicator of the PC market, and most PC vendors are guiding cautiously for Q2 – indicating that GPU shipments may be lower in that quarter, as well.
The gaming PC segment was a bright spot in the market. Gaming PCs use higher-end GPUs, and Nvidia’s Maxwell-based add-in boards continued to perform well – the company even boosted its desktop market share. AMD’s share rose in discrete notebook GPUs, even though the overall notebook segment was down.
| Total Graphics Chip Market Shares | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Vendor | Q1’15 Share | Q1’14 Share | Q4’14 Share | QoQ Change | YoY Change |
| AMD | 12.9% | 15.8% | 13.6% | -0.7% | -2.9% |
| Intel | 72.2% | 68.5% | 71.4% | 0.8% | 3.8% |
| Nvidia | 14.9% | 15.7% | 15.0% | -0.1% | -0.8% |
| Others | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% |
| Source: JPR | |||||
AMD’s desktop APU shipments fell 22.6% QoQ, while notebook APUs were down 15%. Discrete desktop and notebook shipments were down 14.55% and 13.6%, respectively. Overall, AMD’s PC graphics shipments decreased 17.8%. However, the company is launching a wide range of new products this year and hopes to increase sales.
Intel’s shipments of embedded graphics for desktops and notebooks fell 12% QoQ. Overall PC graphics were down the same amount. Total sales were helped by IoT devices, but not enough to offset the decline.
Nvidia performed better than its competitors, but overall PC graphics shipments still fell 13.5%. Discrete desktop shipments were down 7% and discrete notebooks 20.8%. Strength in the North American and Chinese gaming markets helped Nvidia.
Total discrete GPU shipments were down 13.66% QoQ and 14.3% YoY. GPU attach rate for PCs in this quarter was 148%, up almost 3% from Q4’14. 30.6% of PCs had discrete GPUs, a 0.4% rise.
