PC Graphics Market Leaps More Than 21 Percent, Report Says

The PC graphics market is in for a lucrative holiday season, predicts a report from Jon Peddie Research.

A report from research and consulting firm Jon Peddie Research found third-quarter shipments of graphics processors jumped 21.2 percent over second-quarter shipments, suggesting a robust holiday season for graphics processor sales.

Advanced Micro Devices showed the biggest jump in quarter-to-quarter growth at 30 percent, followed by Intel at 21 percent. Intel shipped the most parts-63 million-more than twice as many as Nvidia, its nearest competitor.

AMD captured nearly 20 percent of the market share in the quarter, eclipsed by Nvidia (with 25 percent market share) and Intel (with 52.7 percent market share). For year-to-year growth, VIA/S3 led the pack with 465.3 percent growth, followed by SiS with 80 percent growth. Nvidia posted a 4 percent year-over-year decline, while Intel posted a 14.6 percent jump and AMD posted a 3.1 percent rise. Year-over-year overall growth (based on sales from AMD, Intel, Nvidia, Matrox, SiS and VIA/S3) was 11.9 percent.

Jon Peddie, president of Jon Peddie Research, said the industry has put the crash of the fall of 2008 behind it. "A total of 119.45 million units were shipped in the third quarter, exceeding the record 111 million units that shipped in Q3 2008," he noted. "So the market has caught up with, and exceeded, last year's highs."

Notebook shipments led the market again, topping out at almost 56 million units with discrete graphics processors, jumping more than 36 percent over the second quarter, which Peddie said indicates what the original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) think will be the hot sellers in the fourth quarter. "Integrated graphics in notebooks, which include the popular netbooks, increased 27 percent over Q2-a great gain but less than discrete," he said. "Netbooks will remain popular, but they will not have the high market share they had during the recession when they were just introduced. Rather, consumers are expected to 'buy up' in the next quarter."

Peddie also reported that the channel is full and the products in it will have to be sold off before the OEMs and their resellers take a chance of seeing the channel becoming overstuffed. "That suggests that while Q4 is typically a good quarter for PCs, the quarter-to-quarter growth in Q4 may not be as robust as Q3," Peddie said. "Graphics are a great leading indicator because the graphics go in before the PC is built or shipped."