Research shows overall GPU shipments increased by less than 1% from last quarter

Market research firm Jon Peddie Research released a report this week that claims the GPU market shipped 101 million units in Q4 of 2021, a 0.8% increase from Q3 2021. JPR predicts an annual growth rate of 4.5% through 2025 as supply slowly starts to meet demand over the next few years. 

AMD reportedly saw an overall 4.7% increase in GPU unit shipments, Nvidia saw a dip of 2.2%, and Intel saw a very tiny 0.6% increase in shipments. These include discrete and integrated GPUs that ship in prebuilt PCs, laptops, and tablets as well as GPUs sold on their own. 

We've noted before how the only way to secure yourself a video card is to go the prebuilt PC route, but even those units can have a substantial lead time to ship.

Despite the drop, Nvidia still holds a sizable 81% (down from 83%) share of the discrete graphics market over AMD's 19% (up from 17%). We're still waiting for the launch of Intel's Arc Alchemist GPUs later this year to see if that shifts the balance of power. The report blames supplier shortages of parts, capacitors, and other factors for the stale performances. 

"The disruptions in the supply chain caused by Covid and aggravated by Intel's manufacturing difficulties have made forecasting unusually challenging," says Jon Peddie, president of JPR. "In this reporting period of late February, the world is facing turmoil in Ukraine, and continuing mutations of the virus, compounded by a disturbed workforce and new norms of work location. The forecast for the rest of the year is confusion and surprise." 

The report also notes that despite seeing a small 3% increase over the last quarter, the PC CPU market suffered a hit, with shipments seeing a 21% decrease year-to-year. Industry leaders such as AMD CEO Dr. Lisa Su are optimistic that the supply chain issues should improve in the second half of the year as logistical logjams clear.