Skip to main content

GPU demand declines as prices continue to drop

A new report from Jon Peddie Research confirms what many of us have been noticing — the demand for graphics cards is finally dropping, and the prices are slowly beginning to normalize.

In the first quarter of 2022, GPU shipments decreased by 6.2% compared to the last quarter of 2021.

Four Asus graphics cards Photoshopped into the sky.
Asus

Jon Peddie Research prepares periodic reports on the number of shipments of graphics cards and processors, among other things. Throughout the last year, the news was all good for the manufacturers, with increases almost across the board. This time, we’re finally seeing a decrease in GPU shipments, and this includes integrated and discrete graphics solutions from Nvidia, AMD, and Intel.

Breaking down those numbers to reflect how each company fares reveals that Nvidia actually saw a small increase of 3.2% quarter-over-quarter, while AMD had a decline of 1.5%. Intel’s drop was the most significant, as the company saw a decrease of 8.7% compared to the fourth quarter of 2021.

Given that Intel’s share amounts to pre-built PCs and laptops, this implies that these shipment reductions are mostly caused by a drop in the sales of pre-built PCs, and discrete graphics were not as affected. In the fourth quarter of 2022, Intel didn’t have a horse in the discrete GPU race just yet, and even now, it’s still just getting started.

The changes from quarter to quarter are clearly visible, but so are the changes that took place over the span of the entirety of 2021. In the first quarter of 2021, Intel had a large 68% share of the GPU market. Keep in mind that this includes both discrete and integrated graphics, and Intel ships a whole lot of integrated GPUs in its desktops and laptops. AMD had a 17% market share, which can also be attributed in part to integrated graphics. Nvidia only managed to reach 15%, but all of that is discrete graphics.

GPU shipments graph from Jon Peddie Research.
Jon Peddie Research

Comparing the first quarter of 2021 to the first quarter of 2022 nets interesting insights. Intel’s share is down to 60%. Meanwhile, Nvidia managed to work its way to second place, achieving a 21% market share versus AMD’s 19%. Seeing as Nvidia is the only company of the three that focuses solely on discrete GPUs, this means it was a good year for the manufacturer in terms of discrete graphics card sales.

In the first quarter of 2021, the discrete GPU arena only had two competitors: Nvidia with 81% market share and AMD with 19%. Of course, that has now changed — Intel has entered the battle with Arc Alchemist. However, although the company managed to win a small percentage of the market share for the previous quarter, it’s not thanks to Intel Arc, which didn’t make it to market in any considerable quantity before the end of the quarter (and beyond).

As it stands now, the first quarter of 2022 ended with Nvidia at a 78% market share, AMD at 17%, and Intel at 4%. Interestingly enough, the market share that Intel managed to win is entirely thanks to its DG1 graphics solution, which must have found its way into low-end laptops. The next couple of quarters might bring an increase in market share for Intel, but it all depends on the availability of Arc Alchemist GPUs, which have been very scarce.

News like this feels like a breath of fresh air after the last couple of years. The GPU shortage left the market in a pretty bad state, with much more demand for GPUs than the supply chain could ever hope to cover, and, as a result, sky-high prices on the cards that were available. If the trends we’ve been observing continue — and they likely will — we might be able to buy GPUs at MSRP soon enough.

Editors' Recommendations

Monica J. White
Monica is a UK-based freelance writer and self-proclaimed geek. A firm believer in the "PC building is just like expensive…
Nvidia ditches the RTX 4070 as it turns to cheaper options
The RTX 4070 graphics card on a pink background.

Just as the RTX 4060 family of GPUs is being launched, a new report says Nvidia may be freezing production of its bigger brother, the RTX 4070. Sales of the RTX 4070 are reportedly so bad that the company has halted production in a desperate bid to turn things around. It’s just the latest bad news for a product that has been beset with problems almost from the day it launched.

As reported by Wccftech, the production stoppage is set to last until June, by which time Nvidia will be hoping sales have picked up. It’s apparently an extension of an earlier production slowdown, which reportedly began shortly after the RTX 4070 launched in April.

Read more
Here’s how Nvidia defends its RTX 4060 Ti’s memory controversy
nvidia rtx 4060 ti 8gb 16gb memory controversy nvidia02

The rumors are true: Nvidia has two versions of its new RTX 4060 Ti graphics card. These are the highly anticipated new midrange GPUs, and yes, one comes with 8GB of VRAM and one comes with 16GB -- and they're separated by $100 in price.

It's a head-scratching decision on a few different levels. Games that demand more than 8GB of VRAM are increasingly common, which is frustrating for those eying the $399 8GB model. What's more -- the RTX 4070 Ti comes with just 12GB of VRAM, despite costing $599.

Read more
The best PC builds: budget, gaming, video editing, and more
Intel Core i5-13600K installed in a motherboard.

PC building is fun, but it's also a bit scary. After all, it's hardly cheap -- you're going to spend hundreds or thousands of dollars on something that will hopefully last you for years.

So, you need to know exactly what type of PC you're building and be realistic about what it'll be capable of. It's not as simple as buying a pre-built PC, and we could never give a recommendation for every budget and every specific scenario. But hopefully, these example builds give you a good place to start, especially if you aren't sure exactly how everything fits together.
The best budget PC build

Read more