AMD pulled back almost 10% GPU market share from Nvidia last quarter but AIB sales are down

AMD has emerged as the big winner in the latest global graphics card report from Jon Peddie Research. According to JPR’s analysis, AMD has clawed back 9.4% of worldwide desktop GPU sales quarter on quarter from Nvidia, earning a market share of 32.1% for Q2 2019, a rise of 41.4% from the 22.7% market share earned in the quarter prior.

For Nvidia, the exact opposite applies. Team Green has bled market share, dropping from 77.3% in Q1 2019 down to 67.9% in Q2 2019. However, Nvidia is still ahead of its market share from this point last year.

The latest data, mapped out in a handy graph from 3D Center, indicates AMD’s dire fortunes in the GPU market appear to be in an upturn once again. This has dragged AMD up to roughly the same market share it occupied just after the launch of the Radeon RX 500 and RX Vega series. Excluding that peak, AMD’s market share is the highest it’s been since Q1 2014, just prior to the Radeon R300 series hitting the market.

It’s good news for those who want to see healthy competition fostered between the two competing graphics card giants, although AMD still has a very long way to go if it hopes to ever topple Nvidia’s dominance.

However, it’s not all positive. JPR alleges that overall sales of discrete graphics cards has plummeted once again. Shipments of desktop GPUs dropped 16.6% quarter on quarter and a frankly massive 39.7% year-on-year. Sales of desktop GPUs have now been in constant decline since 2009, a reflection of the growing market for laptop users and mobile gaming.

The total revenue from AIB graphics cards in 2018 was around $16.4 billion, and this figured is expected to drop all the way down to $11 billion by 2023. At this point we’ll have a third competitor in the ring, Intel, although it increasingly looks as if the future battlegrounds will be shifting to laptop devices.

None of this is to say desktop GPUs are going anywhere. They’re still going to be at the forefront of graphics and gaming tech, as well as other high-end devices such as workstations, servers, and rendering farms. For the average user though, laptops and other mobile devices are becoming king, despite the increased costs associated with laptop gaming.