Desktop GPU Sales Lowest in Decades: Report

Sales of standalone graphics cards for desktop PCs continued to shrink in Q1 2023 as retailers and PC makers continued to drain their inventory while AMD and Nvidia were prepping to release new generation mainstream add-in-boards (which are set to become some of the best graphics cards), reports Jon Peddie Research. But as the market hit a new multi-decade low, Intel continued to gain share with its discrete Arc Alchemist GPUs and now controls 4% of the market.

Sales of graphics cards for desktops dropped to 6.3 million units in the first quarter, down 12.6% sequentially and 38.2% year-over-year, according to JPR. 6.3 million is the lowest quarterly sales result of discrete graphics cards in decades, as historical data shows.  

"Shipments of new AIBs were impacted by a turndown in the PC market due to inflation worries and layoffs, and people buying last-gen boards as suppliers sought to reduce inventory levels," said Jon Peddie, JPR founder and president. "With inventory being run down, sales of new-generation boards will pick up, but not until Q3. Q2 is traditionally a down quarter, and the year won't be any different, but probably not as severe as might be expected."

Nvidia continued to dominate the market with an 84% market share. It supplied approximately 5.29 million discrete graphics processors for desktop computers, its worst result on the desktop market in many years. 

AMD was a distant second with a 12% share and 0.76 million AIB units shipped. AMD's Radeon RX graphics cards sales for desktops have been below one million units per quarter. Still, given that PC makers and the channel have been depleting inventory in the first quarter, AMD's rather mediocre results are not surprising.

Unlike Nvidia and AMD, Intel, which launched its Arc Alchemist A700-series graphics cards in late Q3, was ramping up shipments of these GPUs in Q1. This is why it increased sales and gained some share. Of course, Intel's unit shipments were around 250,000 graphics processors, which is incomparable to Nvidia's 5.29 million, but it is evident that Intel's shipments of standalone AIBs are growing.

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"Q1 2023 saw the AIB market still facing the consequences for oversupply in the market caused by pandemic-era supply chain inconsistencies and orders," noted C. Robert Dow, analyst at JPR. "The second half of 2023 promises to be brighter. AMD reported that channel sales grew sequentially for the Radeon 6000 and Radeon 7000 series GPUs. Intel, once again, committed to their next-generation Battlemage family of GPUs, bringing more competition into the gaming add-in board market, and Nvidia released its first 60-series add-in board in the Ada Lovelace family. The 60-series line of AIBs are traditionally Nvidia’s most popular with gamers."