JPR: Discrete GPU Market Grows in 2019 Q4; 2020 Q1 Outlook Tempered by Virus Concerns

Last week, industry analyst JPR released its Quarterly Add-In Board (AIB) Report for 2019 Q4. "Over $3.9 billion dollars of AIBs shipped in the quarter," JPR estimates.

The GPU market at its core is a two-horse race between NVIDIA and AMD, with NVIDIA often in the lead with a larger market share. But 2019 Q4 saw AMD with an increased quarter-to-quarter market share.

AMD market share rose from 27.8% in 2019 Q3 to 31.8% in Q4. By contrast, NVIDIA market share dipped from 72.92% in 2019 Q3 to 68.92% in Q4, according to the JPR report.

"The fourth quarter is normally flat to up from the previous quarter. This quarter it was up 12.2% from the last quarter (2019 Q3)," according to JPR.

Quarter-to-quarter market share changes between the two discrete GPU makers, per JPR Add-In Board (AIB) Report for 2019 Q4. Image by DE/Kenneth Wong.

Intel's Entry to the GPU Market?

Intel attempted to grab a share of the GPU market with its Larrabee Project, but it didn't take off. The product was previewed at Supercomputing 2009, but no commercial launch took place. Instead, Intel shelved the project in December 2009. Afterward, the CPU giant focuses instead on integrated graphics -- graphics processors embedded in the same die as the CPUs. The outcome was Intel Haswell, part of the Intel iCore CPU line.

In January at CES 2020, Intel revealed its plan to enter the GPU market with its own discrete GPU, built on the Intel Xe GPU architecture. "Intel Vice President of Architecture for Graphics and Software Lisa Pearce provided insight into the progress on the new Intel Xe graphics architecture, which will provide huge performance gains in Tiger Lake, and previewed Intel’s first Xe-based discrete GPU, code-named DG1," announced Intel.

"Intel’s entry into the AIB market in 2020 will shift market share but not have an immediate influence on overall sales," JPR predicted. "However, we believe Intel’s brand is so powerful that new AIB customers will come into the market. Offsetting that will be the effect of streaming gaming from Google, NVIDIA, and others which may cause some gamers to delay buying a new AIB. 2020 is going to be a game-changer with Intel’s entry into the discrete GPU market and a possible fourth entry by an IP company.”

2020 Q1 Outlook Tempered by Coronavirus Concerns

The AIB market topped out at $16.1 billion last year. JPR forecasts it will reach $16.3 billion by 2023. Since 1981, 1,303 million AIBs have been shipped, JPR counted.

"This is the third consecutive quarter of increased AIB shipments," noted Jon Peddie, president of JPR. "However, Q1 which is seasonally flat to down, may show an unusual dip because of supply chain interruptions from China due to the Coronavirus epidemic.

For more on Coronavirus's impact on manufacturing and engineering, read the previous report here.

For JPR's AIB report, visit JPR's dedicated page here.