Sales of PC graphics cards rose sharply last year according to a new study, with the market for AIBs or add-on cards (i.e. desktop graphics cards) reaching a value of 51,8 billion (around €40 billion). , AU€68 billion) in 2021.
This comes from Graphic Speak (opens in a new tab) (a publication by analyst firm Jon Peddie Research, or JPR), and the report notes that in Q2021 29, the number of GPU shipments increased by 5 % from the same quarter of 2020, which is quite a boom (they also rose 3% from the previous quarter). Graphics cards worth a total of €13,5 billion (about €10 billion, AU$18 billion) were shipped in the last quarter of last year.
Interestingly, AMD actually gained more ground than Nvidia in Q2021 35,7, with Team Red graphics card shipments up 27,7% year-over-year, while Nvidia didn't make the same level of progress, though they still managed. fix very solidly. growth of XNUMX%.
Team Green remains by far the dominant player in discrete desktop GPUs, of course, with 77,2% of the market.
Analysis: Is AMD reversing the trend of graphics cards?
Nvidia normally has a market share of around 80% in desktop graphics cards according to the usual JPR figures, although it has reached 83% as of late. That said, we've also seen it drop below 80%, but 77% is the lowest market share figure we've seen in quite some time, and it will be interesting to see if AMD can still take advantage of sales. boost here. .
Team Red has, of course, a trio of updated RDNA 2 GPUs rumored to be on the way, along with some new, cheaper RX 6000-series models as well, and that could push AMD even further, even attack to go. to Nvidia below 75% Mark. A 25% share is the best we've seen from AMD lately, according to JPR stats (going back to early 2020), and maybe that could get better in the near future.
The report also notes that PC gaming is becoming more and more popular and is partly responsible for the overall growth of GPUs, stating that: "Aided by the rise of esports and the growing popularity of the PC, AMD and Nvidia posted record gaming revenue in recent quarters.
Of course, desktop discrete graphics cards aren't exclusive to PC gamers, as they're also used in professional settings (workstations or servers), and let's not forget crypto mining (although we might want to). The latter was certainly a strong driver of GPU sales last year, and part of the reason that while more cards shipped, it certainly wasn't easy to buy the current-gen GPU you wanted to shove into your PC.
However, crypto sales are now down, or that's certainly the prevailing sentiment, and coupled with a slow recovery in supply levels, we're finally seeing graphics card prices normalize somewhat, and that trend should persecute. No olvide que la entrada de Intel en el mercado de las tarjetas gráficas pronto generará grande olas también en términos de offer y, con suerte, precio con sus tarjetas Arc (primero en el mercado de las tarjetas portables, pero también en escritorios de escritorio en algún momento del segundo quarter).
Today's best graphics card deals
Via Tom's Hardware(Opens in a new tab)