PC shipments grew 1% in 2024 compared to 2023 and totaled some 262.7 million units, according to IDC. To that end, it's not surprising that sales of integrated and standalone graphics processing units (GPUs) also grew 6% year-over-year and exceeded 251 million units — according to Jon Peddie Research.
GPU shipments typically outpace shipments of client CPUs, as virtually all processors for desktops and notebooks pack an integrated GPU — and companies such as AMD and Nvidia usually sell tens of millions of discrete graphics processors for client PCs per year that end up in systems that also have iGPUs. However, it looks like both CPU and GPUs increased their shipments in 2024.
When it comes to shipments of discrete GPUs for desktops, the final numbers for 2024 remain to be seen.
In the first half of the year the industry shipped 18.2 million graphics cards for desktop systems, up 46% from the same period in 2023, according to JPR. However, shipments of graphics boards in Q3 2024 totaled 8.1 million units — down from 8.9 million units in Q3 2023. This is believed to be a result of inventory correction at AMD as well as the end of both Ada Lovelace and RDNA 3 lifecycles. While sales of discrete GPUs usually pick up in the fourth quarter as gamers prep for the launch of new titles, this may not be the case for last year.
It is possible that shipments of graphics cards in 2024 will be flat compared to 2023 — or might even exceed them, given the strong first half. However, it's unlikely they'll get close to sales of graphics cards in 2022 or 2021.
You might notice that the number of shipments of systems in 2024 based on IDC's data exceeds the number of shipments of integrated and standalone GPUs reported by JPR. There is no contradiction here, as PC makers buy CPUs and GPUs months before they ship these components within their systems. In Q4, they tend to slow down their purchases, despite high sales — as Q1 is usually a weak quarter for client PC sales.
