GPU shipments soar in Q1 year-over-year

The PC GPU market shipments increased by 35% year-to-year and decreased slightly by -.3% from last quarter

According to a new research report from the analyst firm Jon Peddie Research, the growth of the PC-based Graphics Processor Units (GPU) market reached 119 million units in Q1’21 and 38.74% year-over-year. Overall, the installed base of GPUs will grow at a compound annual growth rate of 2.87% during 2020–2025 to reach a total of 3,333 million units at the end of the forecast period. Over the next five years, the penetration of discrete GPUs (dGPU) in the PC will grow to reach a level of 26%.

As part of its ongoing research on the PC graphics market, Jon Peddie Research (JPR) has released its Market Watch report for the first quarter of 2021. Before 2020, the PC market was showing signs of improvement and settling into a new normal. The weakness of the just-in-time supply chain was revealed in 2020 and the manufacturers of semiconductors and other components have not been able to scale up to meet the surge in demand and the backlog that was created. Intel’s leading position in the market and its subsequent manufacturing difficulties exacerbated the situation. JPR’s Market Watch report confirms that trend for the first quarter of 2021, but with cautious guidance for the upcoming year.

AMD’s overall market share percentage from last quarter decreased by -0.12%, Intel’s market share decreased by -0.5%, and Nvidia’s market share increased 0.62%, as indicated in the following chart.

Quarterly shipments and market share percentages and year-to-year results

Overall GPU unit shipments decreased by -0.3% from last quarter, AMD shipments decreased by -1.0%, Intel’s shipments decreased by -1.0%, and Nvidia’s shipments increased 3.9%.

The GPU’s overall attach rate (which includes integrated and discrete GPUs, desktop, notebook, and workstations) to PCs for the quarter was 117%, up 4% from last quarter.

The overall PC CPU market decreased by -4% quarter-to-quarter and increased 39% year-to-year.

Desktop graphics add-in boards (AIBs that use discrete GPUs) increased by 7% from the last quarter.

This quarter saw no change in tablet shipments from last quarter.

The first quarter is typically flat to down compared to the previous quarter. This quarter was down. 0.3% from last quarter which is below the 10year average of 7%

GPUs are traditionally a leading indicator of the market since a GPU goes into every system before the suppliers ship the PC.

PC dGPU shipment market shares

Due the rush to try and equip school children with Chromebooks, combined with the work-at-home rules due to the COVID-19 pandemic, notebook shipments exceeded 89 million units for the quarter—an all-time high. In addition, the year-to-year notebook growth was 49%, the greatest one-year growth on record—this in spite of disruptions in the supply chain. The forecast for Q2’21 is more modest, ~ 4%, but still higher than average. We expect to Chromebooks taper off in 2021 due to school budget limitations.

Source: Jon Peddie/JPR