Nvidia grows GPU Shipments as AMD Slips

JPR is reporting that Nvidia is growing its lead over rival AMD in shipping discrete GPUs. The Q1 2015 data showed Nvidia continuing to show dominance, snatching up 77.5% of all discrete GPUs shipped. That’s significantly higher than AMD which is sitting at 22.5%, meaning for every 40 GPUs sold, only 9 are AMD, the other 31 are Nvidia. This spells continued trouble for AMD as the firm only just recently held 35% share last year but had slipped to 24% already last quarter. Nvidia has managed to grow from 64.9% in the same time frame.

One of the key reasons for Nvidia’s grow is the release of its latest generation Maxwell architecture cards. The GTX 980 and 970 among others have helped boost sales as owners of previous generations have done their upgrades. On the other side, AMD has largely been selling cards launched back in 2014 or earlier, in some cases rebrands that are based on cards from 2013. This has not helped things along as fans of the Red Team haven’t been offered new stock that might spur upgrades. One bright spot for AMD is that they appear to be on the cusp of launching their new Rx 300 series of GPUs. Combined with new HBM technology, AMD has a chance to strike back and reclaim its much needed lost ground.

One sobering note for both firms is the continued decline of overall GPU shipments. The whole GPU market has shrunk by about 19.4% in shipments, meaning they are struggling against each other for a slice of an ever smaller pie. While this can partly be explained by AMD fans holding back, the real killer is the improving integrated graphics solutions offered by Intel and AMD. As more and more casual gaming can be done without discrete cards, one wonders if one day, all gaming can be done with integrated graphics and what that will mean for AMD and Nvidia.