Latest Discrete GPU Shipment Numbers Show NVIDIA Easily Crushing AMD

Following the cryptocurrency boom that took off in 2017 and then fizzled out in 2018, it was expected that GPU add-in board (AIB) shipments would see a significant decline during the closing months of 2018. Well, the latest figures are in from Jon Peddie Research, and they show that the cryptocurrency sugar high has indeed worn off.

According to the firm, discrete graphics card shipment decreased 10.7 percent quarter-to-quarter (Q3 2018 to Q4 2018). However, the biggest drop occurred if you compared Q4 2018 to Q4 2017; shipments declined by a whopping 40.2 percent year-over-year.

What’s interesting though, is that despite the GPU shipments downturn, NVIDIA has increased its lead over AMD with respect to market share. During Q4 2017, NVIDIA was sitting at 66 percent of the AIB market, and by Q3 2018 saw its share rise to 74 percent. However, by Q4 2018 (once GeForce RTX sales were well under way), NVIDIA share stood at 81 percent.

“The channel’s demand for add-in boards (AIBs) in early 2018 was out of sync with what was happening in the market,” said Dr. Jon Peddie, founder of Jon Peddie Research. “As a result, the channel was burdened with too much inventory. That has impacted sales of discrete GPUs in Q4, and will likely be evident in Q1, and Q2’19 as well.”

Looking at the entire graphics segment – including integrated graphics from Intel – the GPU market decreased by 2.65 percent from Q3 2018 to Q4 2018. Here are some highlights from the report:

• AMD’s overall unit shipments decreased -6.81% quarter-to-quarter, Intel’s total shipments decreased -0.67% from last quarter, and Nvidia’s decreased -7.62%.
• Discrete GPUs were in 27.78% of PCs, which is down -3.83% from last quarter.
• The overall PC market increased by 1.61% quarter-to-quarter and decreased -3.79% year-to-year.
• Desktop graphics add-in boards (AIBs) that use discrete GPUs decreased -10.75% from last quarter.

Looking forward, both NVIDIA and AMD have been active with new products. At CES 2019, NVIDIA launched its entry-level GeForce RTX 2060 graphics card and more recently the Turing-based GeForce GTX 1660 Ti. On the AMD side of things, the company released the Radeon VII which is geared towards the enthusiast side of the PC gaming segment.