The total number of GPUs sold for the second quarter of 2025 hit 11.6 million units, while desktop PC CPUs went up to 21.7 million units according to a Jon Peddie Research report. This is a 27% increase in graphics card shipments and a 21.6% jump in CPU shipments from the last quarter, which is a change from the usual drop in deliveries we’ve seen in recent years.
“AIB prices dropped for midrange and entry-level, while high-end AIB prices increased, and most retail suppliers ran out of stock. This is very unusual for the second quarter,” said Jon Peddie Research president Dr. Jon Peddie. “We think it is a continuation of higher prices expected due to the tariffs and buyers trying to get ahead of that.”
As for the three major GPU manufacturers, Nvidia still has the lead, taking in 94% of the market — an increase of 2.1% over the previous quarter — while AMD is at a distant second place with 6%. This is still a much better position than Intel, though, whose market share is so small it did not even register on the chart.
Intel was the first to launch its latest-generation GPUs, putting them on sale in December 2024. On the other hand, both Nvidia and AMD released their latest generation GPUs during the first quarter of the year, with the former continuing to release its value models well into the second and third quarters of 2025. However, all these releases were marred by shortages, with buyers unable to find units at SRP. This was true even as late as the start of the third quarter of this year, with prices for mid-range cards not normalizing until last month.
Still, it seems that gamers were willing to spend cash on upgrading their systems, as the data shows. The report even said that the overall attach rate for desktop PCs increased to 154%, meaning 1.54 GPUs were sold for every CPU bought by customers. So, aside from people building totally new PCs (or buying pre-built), it seems that there was also a good number purchasing new graphics cards to upgrade their systems.
Jon Peddie Research suggests that this increase was driven by tariff concerns, especially as the U.S. government has been announcing and delaying massive import taxes on many semiconductor products, including GPUs. Despite this, the research firm anticipates that the GPU market will decrease by 5.4% between 2024 and 2028.
If the projected shrinkage of the market holds, this increase is likely a temporary blip driven by tariffs and the artificial GPU shortage. This slump could be driven by several factors, including gamers leaving (or even not getting introduced to) PC gaming or the arrival of processors with powerful on-board graphics, like AMD’s Strix Halo chips.
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